Government Contracts Lawyer & Attorney : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Bids, Licenses, Awards, Conflict of Interest.

Government Contract Practice

Sheppard Mullin's "Government Contracts Practice" brings together a group of attorneys with over a century of combined experience in helping clients navigate the maze of procurement statutes, regulations, and contractual provisions that modify, supplement, or displace some of the customary business practices and procedures that characterize traditional commercial contracting.  Commercial and public entities receiving federal and state funds must consider the implications of these special procurement rules when assessing overall business risks and concerns.  The Government Contracts Practice Group is available to provide counseling and litigation services concerning these special procurement rules, especially as they relate to business policies and practices regarding:

• Accounting and Cost Recovery
• Contract Award and Pricing
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Contract Administration
• Audit, Inspection, and Quality Assurance
• Product Testing and Warranty
• Labor Rules and Wages
• Subcontracting and Teaming Arrangements
• Foreign Sales and Purchases
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Export Compliance

In addition to the traditional aerospace and defense sector, today's Government contractors include an ever-expanding universe of small, mid-sized, and large companies that make, assemble, integrate, maintain, service, and sell almost every product or service imaginable, from beverages to computers, from accounting services to public relations services, from pharmaceuticals to satellites.

In connection with all aspects of Government contracting, we bring to bear substantial experience in connection with the investigation and defense of claims brought under the Civil False Claims Act, whether by the Government or by relators under the statute’s qui tam provisions.

Like the clients we represent, Sheppard Mullin's Government Contracts Practice Group is broad-based.  We bring to our clients our specialized capabilities, personal commitment, and an understanding of the business environment in which our clients operate.  Our practice extends beyond Government contracts to take advantage of synergies throughout the Firm, including our International, Intellectual Property, Corporate, Labor, and Litigation practices.

Our Practice Group's clients include Fortune 500 companies operating in the aerospace, shipbuilding, and other strategic defense and energy-related spheres; emerging technology companies and international concerns seeking to enter or expand their role in the federal marketplaces; and companies that sell, or seek to sell, commercial products and services under the auspices of the General Services Administration's Multiple Award Schedule ("MAS") Program.

Our practice includes counseling and litigation, both classified and unclassified in nature, with respect to contested contract awards; Government contracts cost accounting; defective pricing;  internal investigations and compliance reviews; False Claims Act litigation; claims and appeals; rights in patents, technical data and computer software; teaming agreements; subcontract disputes; export controls; multiple award schedules; and due diligence reviews in support of corporate transactions involving federal contractors.

While our practice group is highly experienced and capable in all elements of traditional DOD contracting, it is also extraordinarily proficient in civilian agency procurement, with an extensive practice relating to the General Services Administration's MAS Program as well as non-traditional contractual vehicles such as Cooperative Research & Development Agreements, ("CRADA") and so-called "Other Transactions."  The MAS Program is expected to serve as a primary contracting vehicle for basic Homeland Security-related purchases and will continue to serve as the vehicle for generalized purchases of such commercial items as food, apparel, information technology, chemicals, fuels, industrial and commercial machinery, transportation equipment and services, business services, pharmaceuticals, health services, office supplies, engineering services, information technology, and environmental management and restoration services.  Because of their more flexible nature, alternative contract vehicles such as CRADAs and so-called "Other Transactions" are being increasingly utilized to encourage commercial companies to participate in research and development areas of particular interest to the federal Government.

As the Government devotes increasing resources in non-traditional procurement areas due to Homeland Security concerns -- with increasing procurement dollars being directed to agencies and instrumentalities such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security -- new opportunities and risks will confront companies that are unaccustomed to dealing with the byzantine world of Government Contracts.  These risks include not only the normal contract risks associated with non-performance, but also those that arise from the overlay of federal fraud legislation and the enforcement infrastructure that has evolved to curb "fraud, waste, and abuse."

Sheppard Mullin is uniquely situated to serve its clients in all of these realms, with experienced attorneys on both coasts who have counseled and/or litigated virtually any issue that can arise in the procurement realm.

The types of matters handled by our Government Contracts Practice Group include the following:

• Counseling in connection with:

·         The pre-award safeguarding of the client's rights in technical data, computer software, and patents

·         Cost allowability, allocability and pricing issues and related audit activity

·         Export controls and licenses

·         Buy America and Trade Agreements Acts and the “Berry Amendment”

·         Subcontract arrangements, including teaming agreements and joint ventures ("Strategic Alliances")

·         The MAS Program

·         Contract interpretation, performance, and potential claims

• Litigation of:

·         Cases brought under the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions

·         Contested awards of federal contracts before the General Accounting Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims

·         Contractual performance disputes on a national and international scale

·         Contractor and Government claims before the Court of Federal Claims and federal agency boards of contract appeals

·         Teaming and subcontract disputes

• Internal investigations and compliance reviews
• M&A-related activity peculiar to government contracts, such as foreign ownership issues (Exon-Florio), assignments of contracts and claims, contract novations, due diligence reviews, and Government contract-peculiar representations and warranties

Specific matters on which our attorneys have been engaged include the following:

• Defense of a variety of False Claims Act lawsuits, including cases involving:

·         Alleged accounting fraud under the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the Cost Accounting Standards relating to issues such as IR&D, B&P, MP&E, employee compensation, fringe benefits, and other indirect costs

·         Alleged falsification of test reports and production standards and other product noncompliance allegations

·         Alleged noncompliance with country of origin requirements

·         Alleged noncompliance with small business subcontracting requirements

·         Alleged noncompliance with dimensioning and tolerancing standards applicable to military products

·         Alleged falsification of time records used to price government contracts

·         Alleged violations of environmental laws

• Protest proceedings relating to:

·         The Air Force’s selection of its next generation Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter

·         The Navy's selection of the design for its "next generation" destroyer

·         The source selection for a contract to overhaul and refurbish the country's nuclear weapons arsenal

·         A series of classified awards for surveillance satellite contracts;

·         A contract to manage a remote missile test range

·         A NASA contract for an earth-observing satellite designed to facilitate in-depth environmental assessments of the planet

·         A contract for the provision of a DOD-wide travel services system

·         Numerous contracts involving munitions and incendiary devices

• Termination claims relating to U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Department of Energy contracts
• ADR with the Government on behalf of

·         A major supplier of military aircraft concerning the cost and Cost Accounting Standards implications of intra-corporate reorganizations

·         A contractor on the NASA Space Shuttle Program concerning rights in data and software

·         A contractor against which the Government had assessed penalties for expressly unallowable costs included in its incurred cost claims

• Analysis and defense of claims brought by the Government for alleged noncompliance with the Cost Accounting Standards
• Analysis and defense of claims brought by the Government for defective cost or pricing data
• Analysis and defense of claims for increased costs lodged by a subcontractor against the U.S. government's prime contractor for Marine Corps aircraft
• Counseling of foreign defense contractors concerning the re-export limitations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulation
• Counseling of a major foreign supplier of military systems on the preservation of its intellectual property rights when introducing its products into the U.S. government inventory
• Counseling and litigation on behalf of a major aerospace company concerning the facility dislocations caused by the government's termination of excess defense programs
• Defense of a proposed debarment of a major pharmaceutical manufacturer for alleged misstatements made in a federal investigation of suspected FDA violations
• Internal audits of contractor policies and procedures relating to compliance by a major computer manufacturer with the MAS Program
• Prosecution of a claim against the Army for unanticipated cost increases caused by the Army for a major defense contractor in connection with a contract for a theater-wide command, control and communications system relating to troop and materiel dispositions throughout Korea
• Prosecution of a claim against the U.S. Maritime Administration for increased material handling costs occasioned by faulty government estimates provided to the contractor for the purposes of bidding the contract

Our attorneys have also served as expert witnesses in private disputes relating to the Government contracts process, including disputes relating to intellectual property rights