In this episode of the Government Contracts Legal Roundup, David Robbins reviews a series of cases that have been decided in recent weeks, including the much-anticipated decision in Avue Technologies Corp. v. Department of Health & Human Services.

In a case that underscores the judiciary’s deference to the executive branch’s broad power to protect national security and control access to classified information, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to consider a former employee’s retaliation claim against a defense contractor under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) because the government’s decision to revoke his security clearan

In this episode of the Government Contracts Legal Round-Up, Partner David Robbins explains how two recent Court of Federal Claims decisions reaffirm that the court will meaningfully review an agency’s proposed corrective action, underscoring that protest litigation before the court can be very different from protest proceedings before the Government Accountability Office (GAO). He also looks at a recent GAO bid protest that was dismissed as untimely, highlighting that contractors should pay clos

In this episode, Partner David Robbins discusses the significant proposed rule issued by the Department of Defense implementing Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0. David also covers suspension/debarment updates and recent bid protest decisions.  

The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, or ISDC, released its combined report for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 to Congress in the waning days of 2023. Though the committee is not yet current on its annual reports because the 2023 fiscal year report is pending, issuing two fiscal years of delayed reports at once is tremendously helpful, as the government contracting community seeks to understand the risks posed by suspension and debarment.

In this episode, Partner David Robbins discusses the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. David explains a number of provisions that government contractors and grant recipients should be aware of, including those concerned with foreign purchases, cyber security, and greenhouse gases.

Special Counsel Nathan Castellano and Associate Aime Joo analyze oral argument in a high-profile government contracts case before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that raises important questions of bid protest jurisdiction and standing, Percipient.ai, Inc. v. United States.  

Jenner & Block elevated eight lawyers to the partnership, promoting associates and special counsel from the firm’s Chicago, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC offices.

Partner David Robbins welcomes Partner Jan Larson, a Co-Chair of the firm’s Insurance Recovery and Counseling Practice, to share her insights about what government contractors should know about insurance recovery. As Jan explains, Jenner is uniquely positioned to help contractors because its insurance practice focuses on representing policyholders rather than insurance companies. They discuss the need for an insurance lawyer to protect a client’s assets. “I like to think about insurance as a sou

Partner Michelle Kallen and Associate Andrew Balland will speak at a CLE sponsored by the Fairfax Bar Association, which serves the Northern Virginia legal community. During their panel, they will offer their insight on what trial lawyers need to know about successfully navigating appeals at appellate courts.

Jenner & Block and Pub K, a resource of news and insights for the professional contract law community, are collaborating to provide a CLE that will explore intermediate government contracts topics. CLE credit will be available through Pub K.

With fiscal year 2023 behind us, it is once again time to analyze what the federal government's suspension and debarment apparatus did over the past 12 months.

Late last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2023. The statutorily mandated report contains an array of information about GAO’s bid protest forum over the prior fiscal year, including the most prevalent reasons GAO sustained protests along with a variety of statistical data. The report shows that both the number of bid protests filed and GAO’s “effectiveness rate” increased this past fiscal year, but these statistic

Partner David Robbins begins this episode by discussing implications of decisions by the Court of Federal Claims and the GAO. The cases he covers include System Dynamics Int’l, Inc. v. United States; Insight Technology Solutions, LLC; Guidehouse, Inc.; and Zolon PCS II, LLC. He then provides federal grant recipients with takeaways from the OMB’s proposed rewrite of the uniform guidance. He closes by reminding listeners that he will soon publish his Suspension and Debarment By the Numbers analysi

Jenner & Block Partner David Robbins and Associate Moshe Broder highlight a recent decision by a Pennsylvania court to deny the government’s request to keep under seal a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam suit against Pennsylvania State University. The authors provide background on the complaint, which alleges that Penn State failed to follow government contracting requirements to safeguard controlled unclassified information, or CUI. They observe: “As experienced FCA defense lawyers, we know well t

In an article for The Government Contractor, Partners David Robbins, Matt Haws, and Jen Lee explained an emerging trend of Government agencies paying increased attention to government contracts cost accounting issues. The article explains two recent enforcement resolutions that exemplify the increased cost and accounting risk and provides key takeaways for practitioners.

The government shutdown clock strikes “zero hour” on September 30, and government contractors and federal fund recipients are once again left wondering what will happen. We have been writing these alerts and client updates for years now, and the government is no better at managing its budget. So here we go again.

Partner David Robbins covers a number of current issues in this episode across the government contracts spectrum of issues, including protests, claims, regulatory and investigations.  He notes his analysis in a Law360 article about the increasing risk of parallel civil and criminal enforcement actions against government contractors and closes with a cautionary observation about the Department of Justice’s program to pursue criminal prosecutions for sanctions violations.

In this episode, Partner David Robbins is joined by Nathan Castellano to talk about Nathan’s naming as a co-author of the seminal Formation of Government Contracts treatise and a contributor to The Nash & Cibinic Report.  David then discusses a divergence between COFC and GAO protest practice highlighted by AccelGov, LLC v. United States and also explores two other decisions: KPMG LLP v. United States and B&B Medical Services, Inc.

Jenner & Block Special Counsel Nathan Castellano is a named co-author of the seminal government contracting treatise Formation of Government Contracts (5thEdition). A trusted resource for government contracts students and practitioners for decades, the publication is “written by pre-eminent experts in government contracting” and provides “the authors' unbiased analysis of important case law and decisions.”