Insights

Washington – January 3, 2022: Crowell & Moring elected 13 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2022. The firm also promoted seven to the position of senior counsel and 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media; Antitrust & Competition; Corporate; Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Government Contracts; Health Care; Technology & Intellectual Property; International Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation; and Privacy & Cybersecurity.

Washington – February 22, 2019: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that its Government Contracts Group has been recognized as one of Law360’s “Practice Groups of the Year” for government contracts. This is the ninth consecutive year that the group has earned this honor.

Washington – January 4, 2018: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that it has elected seven lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2018. The firm has also promoted 23 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices, and underscore the firm’s commitment to its Government Contracts, Litigation, Corporate, Environment & Natural Resources, International Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, and Labor & Employment practices.

On October 4, 2023, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa O. Monaco announced the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new safe harbor policy for voluntary self-disclosures made in connection with mergers and acquisitions (Safe Harbor Policy).  Following other announcements from DOJ over the past two years aimed at encouraging voluntary self-disclosures, the Safe Harbor Policy was adopted because DOJ does not want to “discourage companies with effective compliance programs from lawfully acquiring companies with ineffective compliance programs.”  Through this new policy, DOJ is aiming to incentivize acquirers to timely disclose misconduct discovered during the M&A process (including pre-closing diligence and post-closing integration).

When faced with a dissatisfying debriefing, a contractor may choose to respond to the agency to question or even rebut its evaluation.  However, the recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in NikSoft Systems Corporation (NikSoft) serves as an important reminder that those communications can be interpreted as agency-level protests, with potential to render subsequent GAO protests untimely. 

On April 26, the Federal Circuit issued a decision in Crawford v. United States (a C&M case), holding that a U.S. Army combat veteran is entitled to recover his attorneys’ fees arising from a dispute related to obtaining medical retirement benefits earned during his service.  In the underlying dispute on remand to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records from the Court of Federal Claims (COFC), Mr. Crawford obtained full relief, including nearly a decade of retirement benefits that he was unlawfully deprived of due to his erroneous administrative discharge, but Mr. Crawford was initially denied recovery of his attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).  Mr. Crawford appealed, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit unanimously reversed the COFC, holding that (1) even though the COFC’s remand order stated that it was based on judicial economy, the substance of the Government’s admissions in the case amounted to an “implicit” concession of error, and (2) the Government’s legal position was not “substantially justified” under the relevant EAJA standards.  The Federal Circuit then remanded the case to the COFC to determine the quantum of legal fees to be awarded to Mr. Crawford. 

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the next installment of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our next sessions are described below.

In the wake of the recently released “Deliver Uncompromised” report, defense contractors are questioning how their cybersecurity posture could help – or hurt – their competitiveness.  Under the report’s recommendations, a contractor’s overall security would join cost, performance, and schedule as key evaluation pillars – marking a significant shift in how contractors compete for work. The report recognizes, however, that its success would likely require increased incentives for the contracting community to invest in risk mitigation, including liability protections and tax incentives.

The federal government awards billions of dollars in grants annually to fund public service, support non-profits, drive research initiatives and fund programs for colleges and universities.  With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “Act”), the Federal Government is poised to launch $1.2 trillion into the economy, providing funding to commercial entities through federal grants over the next 5 years, which will impact the infrastructure of this country for the next generation.  Like government contracts, federal grants have their own myriad of regulatory requirements that each grant recipient must meet and which are flowed down to subrecipients and subcontractors.  

Competition for government contracts has never been more fierce. Find out what you can do to make yourself stand out from the pack and to avoid common errors that could sink your bid.

Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, host Christian Curran highlights a recent GAO decision with analysis on key personnel and discussions issues.

Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, hosts Christian Curran and Rob Sneckenberg discuss the latest Court of Federal Claims decision disagreeing with a Government Accountability Office key personnel ruling, as well as what it means for contractors going forward.

Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, host Christian Curran and guests Zachary Schroeder and Issac Schabes discuss two rare protest sustains—one from GAO involving a successful challenge to the scope of corrective action, and the other from the Court of Federal Claims finding that the agency abused its discretion in not allowing the protester to fix a minor proposal error through clarifications.