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Agency's "Mail Storm" Excuses Late Proposal

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.31.11

Moving beyond faxes into the computer age, the Court of Federal Claims in Watterson Constr. Co. v. U.S. (Mar. 29, 2011) found that a contractor's late proposal should be excused when the delay was caused solely by a "mail storm" at the agency which overloaded and slowed down its servers. Judge Braden found that the late proposal, received by the contracting officer 4 minutes after the deadline, is excused because the proposal was on time as it had been received by the agency's servers timely; even if it had been late, the FAR's "government control" exception applied; and, in any event, the "mail storm" was an "emergency or unanticipated event" which entitled the contractor to a 1-day extension under the FAR.

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 10.26.26

Executive Order Creates Women’s Health Task Force, Rescinds Prior Initiatives

On October 19, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life,” establishing new federal infrastructure dedicated to improving women’s health research, clinical translation, and coordinated policy leadership. The EO creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force and directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a new Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  ...