Blog
At the 39TH Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 10TH, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced the US Space Force’s (USSF) blueprint for integrating private-sector capabilities. This blueprint, dubbed the “U.S. Space Force Commercial Space Strategy,” seeks to “drive development of more resilient and combat-capable architectures while deploying them faster, in greater numbers, and at a lower cost.”
The Space Force will implement four lines of effort to achieve this strategy: (1) Collaborative Transparency, (2) Operational and Technical ...
Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") published its much anticipated Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2023. GAO's annual report is required under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 ("CICA") and provides the government contracting community with good insight into GAO's bid protest function. [1] Despite being just four pages, GAO's report is highly informative because it showcases key bid protest statistics and GAO's most prevalent grounds on which it sustained bid protests during FY23.
To that end, government contractors that ...
In April 2023, the FCC established the Space Bureau, reorganizing the functions of the Satellite Division in the FCC’s former International Bureau (IB) into a new, stand-alone bureau, with an eye towards promoting a competitive and innovative global satellite and space-based communications marketplace.
Yesterday, in furtherance of this objective, the Space Bureau launched its Transparency Initiative, with the goal of providing interested parties with user-friendly information and guidance regarding the Commission’s space station and earth station ...
We recently wrote about a federal court decision in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric., which held that the "rebuttable presumption" of social disadvantage under Small Business Administration's ("SBA") 8(a) Program ("8(a) Program") was unconstitutional. Following the court's decision, SBA paused all applications for its 8(a) Program and provided a short update on certify.SBA.gov.
Today, the SBA, in conjunction with the National 8(a) Association, held a webinar to provide another update on how SBA plans on moving forward in light of the court's decision in Ultima. This ...
On July 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee held in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. that the "rebuttable presumption" of social disadvantage under Small Business Administration's ("SBA") 8(a) Business Development Program ("8(a) BD Program") violated a plaintiff's Fifth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. The Court enjoined the SBA from using the rebuttable presumption in administering SBA’s 8(a) BD Program. As a result, discussed further below, both future and current 8(a) BD Program participants will need to ...
Late last month, the Biden administration launched the 8(a) MAS Pool Initiative. This initiative is a joint effort between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to help small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) participating in the 8(a) Business Development Program gain access to more federal contracts in GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program.
The MAS Program is part of the GAO’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) and seeks to issue long-term, government-wide contracts that provide federal, state, and local ...
Recently, Cherissa Tamayori, Director of Acquisition and Senior Contracting Official for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), joined U.S. military and defense industry experts from around the globe at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference in April 2023 to discuss innovation and adoption in procurement strategies in the Department of Defense (DoD), particularly by leveraging commercial partners.
Tamayori noted a shift across the DoD shift to adopt non-traditional forms of contracting, including the use of other transaction authorities, or OTAs, and the use of the ...
On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC v. United States, No. 20-1538, a case that has garnered national attention for its potential to alter the way the United States Court of Federal Claims applies the so-called “waiver rule” first articulated in Blue & Gold Fleet, L.P. v. United States, 492 F.3d 1038 (Fed. Cir. 2007). Brad English and Emily Chancey represented Harmonia in this case and were excited for the favorable ruling their client received.
The case involved a $325 million IT services ...
Most government contracts include a clause giving the government the right to terminate the contract, or any part thereof, for its sole convenience “when it is in the best interests of the government.” FAR Parts 49, 12, 13, and 31 establish the regulatory requirements for termination and settlement of government contracts. The mechanics are specific. Upon receipt of the notice of termination, the prime contractor should immediately stop all work and terminate all subcontracts related to the terminated portion of the prime contract. Inventory disposal schedules must be ...
Prime contractors are responsible for incorporating the appropriate provisions of their prime contracts into the agreements with their subcontractor. Determining which clauses are applicable to subcontractors and how best to monitor subcontractor compliance needs to be a priority. The first step is identifying contract clauses that are required to be incorporated into the contractor’s subcontracts. These “mandatory flow-downs” are FAR, DFARS, and other contract clauses that, by their own terms, are required to be incorporated into subcontracts. Clauses that must ...