Jonathan Aronie

Jonathan Aronie is a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office and leader of the firm's Government Contracts, Investigations and International Trade Practice Group and Organizational Integrity Group.

Firm/Organization: Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Blogs: Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

Latest Articles

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

A Few Thoughts on DOJ’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force

By Jonathan Aronie & Ryan Roberts

November 25, 2019

This month, and with great fanfare, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its creation of a Procurement Collusion Strike Force. We know what you’re thinking, and no – this Strike Force will not be starring in the next Avengers movie. Rather, DOJ created the Strike Force to combat antitrust crimes in Federal procurement. The concept of a Strike Force is not novel. In October 2006, DOJ announced the formation of a then-new National Procurement…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

The True Impact of the Chinese Telecom Ban on Government Contractors

By Jonathan Aronie & Townsend Bourne

November 25, 2019

As you probably know, we have been following very closely developments relating to Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which prohibits executive agencies from purchasing restricted products and services from certain Chinese telecommunications companies (including Huawei and ZTE) and also from working with contractors that use such products. Jonathan Aronie was one of the featured panelists at the well-attended General Services Administration (GSA) Section 889 industry event on November 6, 2019,…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

A Lawyer’s Special Weapons and Tactics

By Jonathan Aronie, David Douglass & A. Joseph Jay, III

July 31, 2019

A few years back, two of us had the privilege of joining a highly trained SWAT team in New Orleans responding to a call for a barricaded subject with an assault rifle. To be clear, by “joining” we mean observing from the relative safety of the command vehicle. From that vantage point, we had the privilege of watching the incident response unfold from start to finish through a wide-angle lens, so to speak. Like a…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

From the Big Easy to the Big Ten, And Beyond: What the Process of Reforming the New Orleans Police Department Can Teach Colleges and Universities

By Jonathan Aronie, David Douglass & A. Joseph Jay, III

October 30, 2018

In 2012, the Penn State Lions went 8-4 on the field, passing 3,283 yards, rushing 740 yards, and scoring 349 points. This credible performance earned it a respectable 38th ranking out of the 124 schools in the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. But few will remember Penn State’s athletic performance in 2012. What people will remember instead is that 2012 was the year the University’s Special Investigative Counsel issued its report into the actions…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

Surprise, Surprise, Congress Does Listen — Well, Kind Of

By Jonathan Aronie

November 15, 2017

An Analysis of NDAA Section 846’s Online Marketplace Provisions There has been a lot of speculation about the future of commercial items purchasing within the federal Government since Representative Mac Thornberry circulated his “Section 801” proposal to hand over the bulk of DOD COTS purchasing to one or two existing online commercial marketplaces. (See Section 801 article HERE). Industry groups mobilized, companies called their legislators, and the media contributed several stories describing the wide…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

Change Is Upon Us: An Analysis of the Section 801 COTS Provisions of the 2018 NDAA

By Jonathan Aronie

June 28, 2017

In the words of Taylor Swift, “This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” While I suspect Ms. Swift was not writing about Section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 when she tweeted this inspirational prognostication, she might as well have been – although, admittedly, it probably would not have generated quite so many re-tweets. In any event, if you have not done so yet, you should give…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

House Armed Services Committee Takes Aim at GSA with Proposed Legislation

By Jonathan Aronie & Ryan Roberts

May 30, 2017

On May 18, 2017, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry introduced H.R. 2511, titled “The Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act.” The bill drastically would change how commercial off-the-shelf (“COTS”) products are acquired by the Department of Defense, and could signal the end of the line for the GSA Schedules program. This bill aims to create a more streamlined COTS procurement system. To achieve this goal, the proposed legislation ignores longstanding procurement principles, statutes,…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

Price Reductions Are Dead; Long Live Price Reductions

By Jonathan Aronie

July 25, 2016

You no doubt have heard by now about GSA’s 23 June effort to “embrace modern technology while moving away from outmoded practices” – specifically, its implementation of the new Transactional Data Reporting Rule (“TDR Rule”) and its concurrent elimination of the Price Reductions Clause (“PRC”) and the Commercial Sales Practices Format (“CSPF”). See 81 Fed. Reg. 41104 (June 23, 2016). The new rule covers certain GSA Multiple Award Schedules as well as the Agency’s GWAC and…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

What GSA Can Learn from the National Parks Service

By John Chierichella & Jonathan Aronie

June 30, 2016

Note: The following post is adapted from the forthcoming 2016/2017 GSA Schedule Handbook, published by ThompsonWest, due out later this year. Any way you look at it, 2016 will be an interesting year. You may have heard there is an election on the horizon. That’s right; in November 2016, U.S. voters will trudge down to their neighborhood elementary schools and community centers to pull the lever (or, far less climactically, tap a graphic on a…

Government Contracts & Investigations Blog

As GSA FAS Struggles to Reinvent Itself, Contractors Suffer

By John Chierichella & Jonathan Aronie

July 30, 2015

Note: The following post is adapted from the forthcoming 2015/2016 GSA Schedule Handbook, published by ThompsonWest, due out later this year. The last year has been a tough one for the GSA Multiple Award Schedules (“MAS”) program. The Federal Acquisition Service (“FAS”) – the agency charged with administering the MAS program – has struggled to re-invent itself and its contracting vehicles in order to ensure they both stay relevant in an increasingly competitive federal marketplace. …

Jonathan Aronie

A Few Thoughts on DOJ’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force

The True Impact of the Chinese Telecom Ban on Government Contractors

A Lawyer’s Special Weapons and Tactics

From the Big Easy to the Big Ten, And Beyond: What the Process of Reforming the New Orleans Police Department Can Teach Colleges and Universities

Surprise, Surprise, Congress Does Listen — Well, Kind Of

Change Is Upon Us: An Analysis of the Section 801 COTS Provisions of the 2018 NDAA

House Armed Services Committee Takes Aim at GSA with Proposed Legislation

Price Reductions Are Dead; Long Live Price Reductions

What GSA Can Learn from the National Parks Service

As GSA FAS Struggles to Reinvent Itself, Contractors Suffer

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