NASA Pushes FAR, Far Away for Commercial Crew Program
Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.29.11
In a recent report, GAO questioned whether NASA could ensure adequate price competition using a FAR-based acquisition approach for its Commercial Crew Program because, according to the GAO, substantially reduced funding would jeopardize NASA’s plan to award multiple contracts for the program’s integrated design phase. NASA concurred, and on December 15, 2011, announced that it would abandon using FAR-based contracting for the next stage of the program and instead would rely on “multiple, competitively awarded Space Act Agreements” to foster competition and give NASA “the flexibility to adjust technical direction, milestones and funding” in order to decrease reliance on foreign governments for sending Americans into space.
Contacts
Insights
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims. Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution. Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012). The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
