Sample Tasks Must Be Reasonable Proxy For Entire Contract
Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.08.06
Holding that a cost realism analysis must provide a reasonable basis for estimating the cost to the government of an offeror's performance, in Metro Machine Corp . (May 3, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/ 2978792.pdf) GAO overturned the agency's cost realism evaluation because, while sample tasks can provide a reasonable basis to assess the relative costs of competing proposals, the sample tasks used by the agency in this case were not representative of the contract work. The awardee had proposed a subcontractor with labor rates higher than the prime contractor's to perform a significant portion of the work, but, because that subcontractor had not been included in the proposed solution for any of the sample tasks, the subcontractor's high labor rates were nowhere reflected in the cost realism evaluation.
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
