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Contractor’s Unwaivable CDA Right to Board Review

Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.05.17

In Ikhana, LLC (ASBCA Nos. 60462 et al., Oct. 18, 2017), the Board held that a contractor’s right to CDA appeal cannot be indirectly waived by an assignment of the underlying claims to a surety. Following a termination for default, Ikhana appealed several previously submitted claims (deemed denied). The surety and the Government, believing that Ikhana had assigned those claims to the surety, brokered a settlement agreement to withdraw those appeals and finish performance. The Board held that, regardless of whether Ikhana had assigned its claims, an assignment cannot indirectly “waive” a contractor’s statutory right to Board review under the CDA. The Board distinguished its earlier decision in Safeco Ins. Co. of Am. (ASBCA No. 52107), which upheld a surety’s right to appeal assigned claims while the government attempted to nullify the contractor’s assignment because––critically––the contractor in Safeco was uninterested in pursuing that appeal.

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Client Alert | 10 min read | 10.15.25

Understanding the EU’s International Procurement Instrument

In June 2025, the European Commission adopted its first-ever measures under the International Procurement Instrument Regulation (IPI), restricting access to the EU public procurement market for medical devices for economic operators and medical devices from the People’s Republic of China. This is the first application of the IPI, a new trade instrument aimed at tackling lack of reciprocity in access to public procurement in third countries....