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"Piggy-Backer" Falls at GAO

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.01.05

In VSE Corp; Johnson Controls World Svs. Inc. (May 23, 2005 http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/2904523.pdf), GAO held that Johnson Controls could not circumvent GAO's strict timeliness rules by "piggy-backing" an untimely protest of a sole source award by the Department of Homeland Security onto a timely protest previously filed by VSE. Nonetheless, GAO found the sole source bridge construction contract was improper because DHS failed to prepare a required written justification and approval, and it expressly held that Johnson Controls, as well as VSE, must be given an opportunity to demonstrate an ability to satisfy DHS' requirement.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 05.01.26

Federal Court Blocks Trump Administration Policies Restricting Wind and Solar Permitting

A coalition of regional clean energy trade associations — including RENEW Northeast, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, Southern Renewable Energy Association, and Interwest Energy Alliance — along with the Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA), filed suit in December 2025 against the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Army Corps of Engineers. The complaint alleged that five agency actions, issued in response to a series of executive orders and presidential memoranda beginning on January 20, 2025, violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by arbitrarily halting or restricting federal permitting for wind and solar energy projects. Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of these policies while the litigation proceeds. See Renew Northeast, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, et al., No. 25-cv-13961-DJC,  (D. Mass. Apr. 21, 2026) ECF Dkt. 89....

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