Insights

Washington – December 3, 2024: The Washingtonian has named five Crowell & Moring partners to its 2024 “Top Lawyers” list, featuring the D.C. area’s best legal talent.

Washington – June 24, 2024: Crowell & Moring has been recommended in eight practice areas in the 17th edition of the Legal 500 United States. In addition, partner Daniel Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group, has been named to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Government Contracts.

On May 1, 2025, the Department of Defense announced the release of the long-anticipated 81-page Intellectual Property Guidebook for DoD Acquisition, which is aimed primarily at assisting acquisition professionals to develop, execute, and manage IP strategies that support functional area requirements and objectives across program life cycles. The Guidebook also provides guidance on the implementation of IP laws and regulations, describes operational challenges related to IP, and promotes industry partnerships. Crowell will provide more details regarding the Guidebook and its potential impacts in the coming days.

On April 7, 2025, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) announced agency reorganization plans aimed at reducing the number of field offices and centralizing audit operations. DCAA plans to close 40 smaller audit suboffices around the country, many staffed with fewer than 10 personnel, to reduce the costs of associated leases. The agency will also consolidate the existing Region Audit Directorates for the Eastern, Central and Western Regions and four Corporate Audit Directorates (CADs), located proximate to large contractors, into three new Directorates—Land, Sea, and Air. The audit offices of the CADs will be merged into the new Directorate that most closely aligns with a contractor’s product. DCAA’s announcement states that the organizational restructuring will be completed by September 30, 2025. The full text of the announcement is available here.

On January 17, 2025, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a final rule replacing the term “significant deficiency” in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) with the term “material weakness” for use in reviews of contractor business systems.  Effective immediately, a material weakness is defined as “a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in the internal control over information in contractor business systems, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of such information will not be prevented, or detected and corrected, on a timely basis.  A reasonable possibility exists when the likelihood of an event occurring is probable or more than remote but less than likely.” 

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.

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch 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 September session is described below. 

Please Join Crowell & Moring for a Webinar on COVID-19 and the False Claims Act: What to Expect and How to Defend Investigations, Audits, and Qui Tam Actions in a Post-Pandemic World.

Please join members of Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group for an overview of where acquisition regulations and policies may be headed in the new Biden Administration.  The attorneys will also highlight hot topics and new developments in government contracts for 2021.  Topics to be discussed include:

For nearly 6 months, the Coronavirus pandemic has caused disruptions across nearly all industrial sectors, including the government contracting industry.  As contractors have attempted to respond to challenges in providing support to government customers, meeting contract and staffing requirements, and adhering to contract terms and a constantly shifting landscape, Congress provided an additional avenue of relief to certain contractors dealing with COVID-19 related impacts.  Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provided assistance in connection with certain disruptions in contractor performance arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Now, as the Government fiscal year draws to a close, many contractors are considering whether and when to submit potential Claims and REAs – including Claims and REAs triggered in part by COVID-19 related issues – and how best to position themselves to recover schedule and cost impacts triggered by COVID and non-COVID related causes.

Nicole Owren-Wiest and Erin Rankin continue their discussion of TINA. In this episode, they dive into the definition of cost or pricing data. Spoiler alert: the devil’s in the details. “It All Adds Up” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest government contract accounting, cost, and pricing developments.

Nicole Owren-Wiest and Erin Rankin talk TINA. What is the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act, formerly known as the Truth in Negotiations Act? When are contractors and subcontractors required to provide certified cost or pricing data? And what does Nicole’s Cookie Monster coffee mug have to do with it? “It All Adds Up” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest government contract accounting, cost, and pricing developments.

To set the groundwork for future episodes, Nicole Owren-Wiest and Erin Rankin talk fundamentals: What is the purpose behind the often counter-intuitive and complex government contracts cost and pricing rules? What are the various price analysis techniques available to the world’s largest buyer of goods and services? “It All Adds Up” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest government contract accounting, cost, and pricing developments.