Insights

Washington – August 3, 2026: Crowell & Moring partners Alex Lucas and Michael Samuels have been named Law360 Rising Stars for 2026, a prestigious recognition honoring attorneys whose work “belies their age” and reflects notable career achievements and leadership in their fields. Lucas was recognized in the health care category, and Samuels was recognized in the government contracts category. 

May 22, 2026: A Crowell & Moring team represented Kanders & Company in a complex carveout transaction in which Kanders acquired the biosecurity business of publicly traded Ginkgo Bioworks. The resulting company, Perimeter Systems, has launched as the world’s first integrated biosecurity infrastructure platform, designed to transform biological signals into real-time intelligence and accelerate decisive response. At closing, Perimeter secured $60 million in growth capital, led by Kanders in partnership with SCS Financial, Goldcrest Capital, Four Cities Capital, and the Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund (SAIF).

Washington – July 1, 2025: A Crowell & Moring team represented Parsons Corporation in its $89 million acquisition of Chesapeake Technology International, a defense technology firm known for its advanced capabilities supporting all-domain operations and the Indo-Pacific Command.

On August 20, 2026, the Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed to materially amend the way it establishes size standards for purposes of federal procurement. SBA simultaneously issued two rulemakings. First, SBA published the 2026 Revised Size Standards Methodology white paper (2026 White Paper), which explains the proposed changes to SBA’s methodology for establishing size standards. Second, SBA published

 

On April 8, 2026, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied an appeal arguing that a concern’s early submission of its proposal with pricing was an attempt to “end-run the regulations” for when size is determined. In Size Appeal of DecisionPoint Corporation, SBA No. SIZ-6379, OHA confirmed that a company’s size is determined on the date it submits its initial offer which includes price, even if the proposal is submitted in advance of the proposal submission deadline and the offeror becomes large before the provided deadline.

On May 7, 2026, the Department of War issued the long-awaited Proposed Rule to implement Section 847 of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) regarding Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) requirements for contractors. The proposed rule would expand the applicability of FOCI reviews, requiring contractors and subcontractors on unclassified “covered contracts” — defense contracts and subcontracts valued in excess of $5 million that are not for commercial products and services — to submit FOCI disclosures to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) for FOCI risk assessment (and as applicable, mitigation) as part of contract award. This would effectively require DCSA assessment and adjudication of FOCI considerations prior to contract award. Thus, both cleared and uncleared defense contractors would be subject to the rigorous DCSA disclosure requirements, scrutiny, and FOCI mitigation. Crowell discussed the Section 847 requirements in a prior alert.

The federal government has identified purported ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ in small business programs as a major focus of its current enforcement efforts. As it relates to federal procurement, we have seen audits and investigations rolled out not only of active participants in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program but also reviews of various types of small business contracts (such as 8(a) sole source and set-aside awards, preference-based awards, and small business set-aside awards over particular values). Join Crowell & Moring as we discuss what aspects of contract performance and teaming arrangements are being scrutinized (e.g., size/status eligibility, limitations on subcontracting compliance, reasonableness of market rates, etc.) and how these considerations can impact both small government contractors holding the prime contracts under review and their subcontractors. 

September 22, 2025; 12:00pm-1:00pmDevelopments in Caselaw Impacting Small Business Gov Con IssuesSpeakers: Olivia Lynch, Zachary Schroeder, Issac Schabes, Cherie OwenCrowell & Moring will address recent decisions from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, Government Accountability Office, and Court of Federal Claims covering a range of topics including but not limited to: challenges involving size and status based on ostensible subcontractor affiliation; protests of awards to mentor-protégé joint ventures based on questions regarding the mentor-protégé agreement and joint venture corporate governance documents; protests concerning the evaluation of joint venture capabilities and past performance; protests of the evaluation of small business participation plans; and application of the Rule of Two.

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 Olivia Lynch is joined by Michael Samuels to discuss a recent decision from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals on the ostensible subcontractor rule as well as a recent Government Accountability Office decision sustaining a protest of an agency solicitation that required a joint venture competing for the award, as opposed to the individual members of the joint venture, to hold a top secret facility clearance.  

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 Olivia Lynch and Rob Sneckenberg are joined by colleague Michael Samuels to discuss recent developments in GAO’s Key Personnel case law.