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Agency's "Mail Storm" Excuses Late Proposal

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.31.11

Moving beyond faxes into the computer age, the Court of Federal Claims in Watterson Constr. Co. v. U.S. (Mar. 29, 2011) found that a contractor's late proposal should be excused when the delay was caused solely by a "mail storm" at the agency which overloaded and slowed down its servers. Judge Braden found that the late proposal, received by the contracting officer 4 minutes after the deadline, is excused because the proposal was on time as it had been received by the agency's servers timely; even if it had been late, the FAR's "government control" exception applied; and, in any event, the "mail storm" was an "emergency or unanticipated event" which entitled the contractor to a 1-day extension under the FAR.

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 04.29.26

CMS Seeks to Expand Interoperability Requirements to Drug Pre-Authorization (FAQ)

On April 10, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule (2026 CMS Interoperability Standards and Prior Authorization for Drugs, or CMS-0062-P) outlining the agency’s plans to impose new interoperability requirements on payors participating in certain Medicare and Medicaid programs. As described by the agency in a recent press release, the proposed rule “builds on” prior rulemaking by clarifying and enhancing interoperability requirements for payors’ prior authorization processes, specifically those associated with coverage requests for pharmaceutical therapies....