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OMB and DoD Do Sequestration Two-Step

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.13.12

On August 1, 2012, Acting OMB Director Jeffrey Zients and Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter testified before the House Armed Services Committee regarding the potential impacts of sequestration set to begin on January 2, but declined to spell out whether OMB would apply sequestration at the program, project, or activity level – the key to determining whether agencies would have some discretion to pick and choose among contracts. Sec. Carter hinted that DoD would follow that approach, stating that the DoD leadership "will take advantage of any flexibility [they] can find" to reach the target cuts, although any such flexibility is already restricted by the Administration's announcement that payroll accounts for military personnel would be exempt.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 12.19.25

GAO Cautions Agencies—Over-Redact at Your Own Peril

Bid protest practitioners in recent years have witnessed agencies’ increasing efforts to limit the production of documents and information in response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protests—often will little pushback from GAO. This practice has underscored the notable difference in the scope of bid protest records before GAO versus the Court of Federal Claims. However, in Tiger Natural Gas, Inc., B-423744, Dec. 10, 2025, 2025 CPD ¶ __, GAO made clear that there are limits to the scope of redactions, and GAO will sustain a protest where there is insufficient evidence that the agency’s actions were reasonable....