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All Similar Past Performance Scores Are Not Comparable

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.21.05

In Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc., (Dec. 9, 2005, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/2961762.pdf), GAO overturned an award because the agency evaluated only the numerical past performance scores resulting from responses to past performance questionnaires and did not consider the comparative relevance of the offerors’ past performance despite an RFP provision that such an analysis would be performed. Because the protester was the incumbent contractor with consequent highly relevant experience and the awardee’s comparable numerical scores were attributable to contracts that were significantly smaller and less complex, GAO found that protester had suffered competitive prejudice from the agency’s failure to follow the RFP.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 03.05.26

DOL’s Proposed Independent Contractor Rule Reverts to Prioritize Two Core Factors – Likely Limiting Misclassification Claims by Contractors

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed another revision to independent contractor regulations, one that would provide for more leeway in classifying workers as contractors. DOL’s proposed rule, published on February 26, 2026, would rescind the Biden DOL’s March 2024 independent contractor regulation and reinstate a framework substantially tracking the prior Trump rule of January 2021. The proposed rule would also apply the narrower analysis to worker classifications under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). The comment period closes in late April 2026; until then, the 2024 rule remains in effect for purposes of private litigation....