The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently published a list of frequently asked questions (with the SBA’s answers) about recent changes to the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (or HUBZone) program, which is a program for small federal contractors that operate and employ people in HUBZones. Among the more notable recent changes to the HUBZone program are those involving the HUBZone employee residency requirements. As such, the SBA’s recent answers to FAQs about the…

Technically, no. However, when the contractor is protesting the award of a contract for the same agency that issued the unfavorable Contractor Performance Evaluation Report (CPAR), the contractor may have some success arguing that there was a conflict of interest. In a very recent decision, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed most of the claims raised by the contractor in its bid protest. However, the contractor’s claim that Navy personnel acted in bad faith in…

Let’s assume the mediator sticks his head into your room with a grin at 8pm after an exhaustive day when your client is still upset he made the 8th counteroffer and the Mediator says: “Great news! Counter-offer accepted! We have a deal!”  Wonderful, right? Even though your client was pushed way past what he came ready to do that day, you have a deal.  So what mistakes are made when it comes to confirming the…

The False Claims Act (FCA) continues to be one of the federal government’s primary enforcement tools against government contractors. To keep you informed on the status of the law, Bradley’s Government Enforcement and Investigations Practice Group is pleased to present the False Claims Act: 2019 Year in Review, our eighth annual review of significant FCA cases, developments and trends.…

Family-owned businesses are often owned and controlled by family trusts. Trusts are used by families for estate planning, tax planning and asset protection. Family-owned government contractors with trust ownership structures should be mindful of ownership disclosures required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Failure to comply with the required disclosures could result in False Claims Act or false statement allegations, loss of Facility Security Clearances, rejections of bids and proposals, and loss of bid protests.…

This post is a continuation of the 10 most horrible, terrible, no good, “bang your head against the door” mistakes that I have seen lawyers make before, during and after mediations in which I was the mediator. As stated in previous posts, it takes more than throwing together a mediation statement at the last second and showing up at the mediation. Doing it right requires the same kind of due diligence and work that goes…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $3 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019. Notably, DOJ reports that “matters that involved the health care industry” comprised the largest portion of these FCA recoveries in FY 2019, but that “procurement fraud” recoveries comprised the second largest category of recoveries for DOJ this past year. Among the more notable “procurement fraud”…