Per David Midboe

Senior Counsel

Overview

Government contractors large and small trust Per David Midboe to solve their most complex legal challenges to winning and successfully performing work for the government. Building on his substantial Navy experience, Per advises clients —  particularly in the defense, emerging technologies,  and IT sectors — on critical competition issues under the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, including solicitation terms, evaluation factors, organizational conflict of interest issues, bidders’ Q&As, request for information responses, subcontract formations, conducting discussions, government data rights clauses, subcontractor flow-downs, Procurement Integrity Act investigations, and debriefs. He also has a substantial bid protest practice, representing clients at the Government Accountability Office, at the Court of Federal Claims, and in state court bid protest litigation.

Per has deep experience in assessing government cost realism analyses and has taught the topic to contracting officers and attorneys across numerous Department of Defense service branches. He also has substantial experience with other transactions and advises on their negotiations, including data rights negotiations under these vehicles.

Per also advises clients on contract administration disputes, including settlement and release negotiations, requests for equitable adjustment, and claims. He also has experience with fiscal law issues.

Navy experience

Per led the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of the General Counsel, where he managed a team of senior federal acquisition attorneys and acted as the primary legal adviser to both the Program Executive Office for Manpower, Logistics, and Business Solutions and PEO Digital. Together, these two PEOs have a combined annual budget of approximately $3 billion and are responsible for delivering IT infrastructure and applications to approximately 800,000 Navy users, both ashore and afloat.

Prior to this, Per served as a senior procurement attorney and subsection head at the Naval Sea Systems Command. In this role, he directly oversaw, coached, and mentored a team of 10 program attorneys, providing legal analysis and business advice to NAVSEA contracting officers and program offices. Per’s team advised five of the Navy’s PEOs on nearly all of the Navy’s surface and subsurface weapon systems, managed a wide variety of relationships with academia via the University Affiliated Research Centers, and directly supported NAVSEA’s 10 Warfare Centers as they conducted cutting-edge naval weapons research. Through this work, Per worked closely with senior leadership clients to acquire many critical military technologies, including lasers, autonomous vessels, complex combat systems, radars/electronic warfare systems, and missile systems. These technologies are pivotal to the future of the defense industry in the majority of the DoD’s most contested battle spaces, including air, surface, subsurface, cyber, ballistic missile defense, and electronic warfare.

Additionally, Per advised the SeaPort Program with respect to its management of the Navy-wide professional support services’ multiple-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts, projected to buy up to $5 billion worth of support services annually for the Navy. Along with this programmatic experience, Per also has substantial experience completing numerous protestable task orders under the SeaPort Program and handling bid protest litigation.

Career & Education

|
    • University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, B.S., with distinction, mechanical engineering, 2005
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Journal of Law and Politics, Managing Board, Production Editor, Virginia Law and Business Review, Managing Board, Articles Editor, 2008
    • University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, B.S., with distinction, mechanical engineering, 2005
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Journal of Law and Politics, Managing Board, Production Editor, Virginia Law and Business Review, Managing Board, Articles Editor, 2008
    • Virginia
    • District of Columbia
    • Virginia
    • District of Columbia

Per's Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.15.24

Department of Defense Plans Increased Investment in Clean Energy

The Department of Defense (“DoD) recently took important actions to expand and deepen its relationships with companies bringing critical energy production and storage technologies to the DoD marketplace. As one of the largest consumers of energy in the world, DoD has the scale and resources to catalyze new industries, and mission assurance increasingly requires a diverse generation mix and incorporation of advanced technologies....

Representative Matters

Significant Federal Procurement Matters (handled as government attorney)

  • Per advised the Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) Program through the entire life-cycle of competing its combat systems development requirements for the first time. This included advising on the acquisition strategy, solicitation-development, Bidder’s Q&A, organizational conflict of interest analyses, evaluation of initial proposals (technical and cost), the setting of a competitive range determination, discussions, evaluation of Final Proposal Revisions, the award decision, and in-person debriefs. Per also led a three-attorney team to a successful outcome in the bid protest litigation . 
  • Per served as the primary cost-evaluation attorney for the Air Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) Engineering and Manufacturing Development and Low-Rate Initial Productions (EMD & LRIP) procurement, which was a $1.5B award that procured the Navy’s next generation ballistic missile defense/anti-aircraft warfare radar. Per received the 2014 Navy OGC Acquisition/Fiscal Law Achievement Award in connection with his work on the bid protest. 
  • Per advised the Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office in its competitive award of two major autonomous shipbuilding/design procurements: Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (LUSV) Concept Design contract and the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV) Prototype Production contract. Although both represented new market share for the industry, the Navy awarded both without protest. 
  • Per advised the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) program to award its EMD & LRIP contract, which was one of the Navy’s first Rapid Prototyping Experimentation and Demonstration (RPED) initiatives. With Per’s guidance, the Navy awarded this contract less than a year from initiation, two months ahead of schedule, and without protest. 
  • Per served as the primary cost-evaluation attorney for the Aegis Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) procurement, which acquired the next generation surface combatant command and control system for the U.S. Navy.

Significant Fiscal Law Experience (handled as a government attorney)

  • Per advised the NAVSEA Comptroller on the full range of fiscal law issues in nearly all of the Navy’s various appropriations, including Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy (SCN) and the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund. Per has also addressed “new start” issues while the Government is operating under continuing resolutions. 
  • Per worked closely with the NAVSEA Comptroller to develop Government shutdown guidance for NAVSEA’s wide range of stakeholders including: mission-funded programs and personnel, working capital fund programs and personnel, and contractor personnel.

Per's Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.15.24

Department of Defense Plans Increased Investment in Clean Energy

The Department of Defense (“DoD) recently took important actions to expand and deepen its relationships with companies bringing critical energy production and storage technologies to the DoD marketplace. As one of the largest consumers of energy in the world, DoD has the scale and resources to catalyze new industries, and mission assurance increasingly requires a diverse generation mix and incorporation of advanced technologies....

Recognition

  • 2021 Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award
  • 2017 Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management & Comptroller) Team Achievement Award: Policy and Systems Category
  • 2014 Navy OGC Acquisition/Fiscal Law Achievement
  • Numerous Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) Awards for Excellence

Per's Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.15.24

Department of Defense Plans Increased Investment in Clean Energy

The Department of Defense (“DoD) recently took important actions to expand and deepen its relationships with companies bringing critical energy production and storage technologies to the DoD marketplace. As one of the largest consumers of energy in the world, DoD has the scale and resources to catalyze new industries, and mission assurance increasingly requires a diverse generation mix and incorporation of advanced technologies....

|

Per's Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.15.24

Department of Defense Plans Increased Investment in Clean Energy

The Department of Defense (“DoD) recently took important actions to expand and deepen its relationships with companies bringing critical energy production and storage technologies to the DoD marketplace. As one of the largest consumers of energy in the world, DoD has the scale and resources to catalyze new industries, and mission assurance increasingly requires a diverse generation mix and incorporation of advanced technologies....