Former GAO Bid Protest Attorney and Associate General Counsel for AI Defense Business Rejoins Crowell & Moring

Brings deep bid protest and technology experience from private and public sectors

Washington – October 12, 2023: Eric M. Ransom, a former attorney with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, has rejoined Crowell & Moring as a partner in the firm’s premier Government Contracts Group. Eric will advise clients on the intersection of procurement laws, regulations, and best practices; and Artificial Intelligence and sophisticated defense technologies.

Most recently, Ransom served as director and associate general counsel of Scale AI, Inc., which provides AI development platforms and training data supporting advanced AI applications including generative AI from OpenAI and Cohere; self-driving technology from GM and Toyota; and the government’s most advanced AI research & development programs. In that role, Ransom served as the primary attorney for Scale AI’s public sector business unit, and as the company’s head of Government Contracts, Public Sector Compliance, and Industrial Security. Prior to joining Scale, Ransom was senior counsel in Crowell’s Government Contracts Group.

“We are thrilled to welcome Eric back to Crowell,” said Daniel R. Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group. “His experience on the front lines of AI, a developing area of the law, positions him uniquely to help clients navigate uncharted waters for companies that sell AI products and services to the government, and those that utilize AI in contract performance.”

Ransom previously spent more than a decade at the GAO, where he served as deputy assistant general counsel and as a senior bid protest hearing officer in the Procurement Law Division. In that role, he resolved more than 750 bid protests and was responsible for more than 125 published legal decisions. He has extensive experience in matters of government contract formation and bid protest litigation, and can provide unique insight into the full range of legal issues surrounding the award or proposed award of a government contract, or the terms of a solicitation.

In addition to the defense technology industry and bid protests, Ransom has experience working with emerging companies and venture capital entities. He plans to work closely with the firm’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice, which advises new companies, venture funds and corporate investors.

In his role on the Senate Rules Committee, Ransom advised Senate offices on federal procurement law, drove improvements in the Senate’s internal procurement systems, and led committee oversight on legislative branch contracting issues, including management of data privacy concerns in Senate software contracts, and the termination and recompetition of the Government Publishing Office’s $61 million contract supporting the 2020 U.S. Census.

Ransom earned his law degree from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, and his undergraduate degree from The George Washington University. He was named a Law360 Rising Star for Government Contracts in 2021.

“Crowell has always felt like the perfect fit to me, and I am delighted to rejoin the firm’s unmatched bench of collegial government contracts practitioners,” Ransom said. “I look forward to drawing on my government and in-house experience to help clients navigate bid protests and the defense technology environment, and structure their businesses for long-term success in the public sector.”

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring is an international law firm with operations in the United States, Europe, MENA, and Asia. Drawing on significant government, business, industry and legal experience, the firm helps clients capitalize on opportunities and provides creative solutions to complex litigation and arbitration, regulatory and policy, and corporate and transactional issues. The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono service as well as its programs and initiatives to advance diversity, equity and inclusion.  

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