On August 15th, the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) posted a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking responses from third party entities to administer a new aeronautical knowledge and safety test for recreational drone operators. The RFI marks the beginning of FAA’s implementation of Section 349 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which requires FAA to develop an electronic test to be administered by FAA, community-based organizations, or by FAA designees. Anyone who wishes to fly…

In a prior alert, we highlighted the unusual remedy ordered in Caddell Construction Co. v. U.S., in which the Court of Federal Claims nullified the award of a construction contract and ordered the agency to reopen discussions with only one firm. The court explained that the unusual remedy was appropriate because misleading discussions had impacted only that firm, and “a broad reopening of discussions is unnecessary to cure the procurement error and would cause more…

The Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) recently made public its Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Report to Congress (“Report”), which, among other things, provides an update on its incurred cost audits and highlights DCAA’s industry outreach activities.  Although the Report touts DCAA’s elimination of the incurred cost audit backlog, DCAA acknowledges that there still is a backlog of 152 years, the majority of which is due to reasons purportedly beyond DCAA’s control, and that is not…

Last month, in National Government Services, Inc. (“NGS”) v. United States—a pre-award bid protest handled by Crowell & Moring—the Federal Circuit ruled that “workload caps” imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) in its administration of the Medicare Program violated the Competition in Contracting Act’s (“CICA”) “full-and-open competition” requirement. In so doing, the Federal Circuit reversed a Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) decision that upheld the caps (a prior GAO decision…

Following the announcement of the White House’s Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (EO) and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Artificial Intelligence Strategy (AI Strategy) in February, as reported on here, the United States recently endorsed the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Council’s (OECD) Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence (Recommendation) – the world’s first intergovernmental policy guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI).  In the Recommendation, the OECD sets forth the “Principles on…

The Digital Revolution is here. Contractors are reinventing their products, customer experiences, and business models — and transforming the public sector marketplace as a result.  Meanwhile, government agencies are increasingly using emerging technologies and developing plans to promote and incentivize their use. Join us on May 8, 2018, at 10:30 AM Eastern, as Crowell & Moring attorneys Gail Zirkelbach, John Gibson, and Mana Lombardo lead a discussion highlighting regulatory and contractual compliance considerations that are pivotal to…

Crowell & Moring’s 35th annual Ounce of Prevention Seminar (OOPS) is just around the corner, taking place on May 7 and 8 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington. At this year’s seminar, “The Challenging Climb to Reach New Heights,” the Government Contracts Group will provide updates and insight in a variety of areas, including ethics and compliance, bid protests, False Claims Act enforcement, cybersecurity, international issues affecting government contractors, and more. Check back here for…