The US is generally pretty keen on international free trade agreements. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, free trade agreements have the ability to open up foreign markets to US goods and services, allowing new and expanding opportunities for US companies. But “free trade” does not always mean “free trade” – it usually means “free-er trade, subject to numerous exceptions,” with the exceptions proving a constant irritant to our free trade partners. Case in point: two recent events – one in the European Union and one in Canada – demonstrate that “free trade” (subject to numerous caveats) is still a bone of contention, even among long-established trading partners. While “free-est trade” may be too much to ask for, maybe “free-er trade” with fewer strings attached would at least be a step in the right direction.
Continue Reading Free(er?) Trade – US, EU and Canada Quibble Over Market Access and Domestic Preferences
Task And Delivery Order Protests: Taking Aim At A Moving Target
By Sheppard Mullin on
The saga began with the passage of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. While the Act contained a general prohibition barring bid protests of task and delivery order awards (excluding challenges to scope, period, or maximum value), it granted the GAO exclusive jurisdiction over bid protests of civilian and defense agency task and delivery order awards valued at over $10 million. The Act also included a sunset date – May 27, 2011. The reach of the Act’s sunset provision would prove to be critical in shaping the GAO’s and the Court of Federal Claims’ jurisdiction over bid protests of civilian agency task and delivery order awards.
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The GAO Holds It Possesses Jurisdiction Over Bid Protests of Civilian Agency Task and Delivery Order Awards
By Sheppard Mullin on
Many believed that the Government Accountability Office’s (“GAO’s”) jurisdiction over bid protests of civilian agency task and delivery order awards valued at over $10 million expired on May 27, 2011. This belief was based on the fact that certain broadened jurisdiction over civilian agency task and delivery order protests granted by the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (“2008 Act”) expired on that date. With the expiration of the broadened jurisdictional grant found in the 2008 Act, many thus contended that a contractor would not be able to protest a civilian agency task or delivery order award at the GAO unless the protest alleged that the order exceeded the scope, period or maximum value of the underlying contract. Protests of Department of Defense task and delivery order awards valued at over $10 million were not similarly affected because Congress extended the GAO’s exclusive, broadened jurisdiction over these protests through the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act.
Continue Reading The GAO Holds It Possesses Jurisdiction Over Bid Protests of Civilian Agency Task and Delivery Order Awards
Making Amends: Countdown To May 27, 2011
By Sheppard Mullin on
Over the past three years, government contractors have been able to pursue bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (the “GAO”) challenging awards of defense and civilian task and delivery orders valued at over $10 million. This expanded jurisdiction, however, is set to expire on May 27, 2011. Congress appeared to have addressed the issue in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (the “Act”) by including a provision extending the GAO’s expanded jurisdiction until September 30, 2016, but, for whatever reason, the Act captured only defense task and delivery order awards. This omission not only was strange, but it also seemed to run counter to the spirit of the original grant of task/delivery order jurisdiction. We analyzed the Act’s legislative history here and concluded that it did not provide a basis for only partially extending the GAO’s expanded jurisdiction. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. House of Representatives (the “House”) and the U.S. Senate (the “Senate”) introduced bills targeted at extending the GAO’s jurisdiction over civilian task and delivery order bid protests. See H.R. 899; see also S. 498.
Continue Reading Making Amends: Countdown To May 27, 2011
Has The Sun Set On GAO’s Civilian Contract Task And Delivery Order Bid Protest Jurisdiction?
By Sheppard Mullin on
With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (the “2008 Act”), Congress expanded the GAO’s jurisdiction to include bid protests in connection with civilian and defense contract task and delivery orders valued at over $10 million. See Section 843 of the 2008 Act, Pub. L. No. 110-181. Congress also included a sunset provision in the 2008 Act that limited that grant of expanded jurisdiction to 3 years – i.e., until May 27, 2011. See id. We previously discussed Section 843 of the 2008 Act and its implications here, here, and here.
Continue Reading Has The Sun Set On GAO’s Civilian Contract Task And Delivery Order Bid Protest Jurisdiction?
Size Does Matter – Impacts Of The Small Business Jobs Act Of 2010
By Sheppard Mullin on
Posted in False Claims, FAPIIS, FCA, IDIQ, Legislation, Multiple Award Schedule, Set-Aside, Small Business, Subcontracts, Teaming Agreements
On September 27, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-240). The Act is intended to free up capital by providing tax cuts for small businesses (some of which are temporary) and to promote exports of U.S. products, all with a view to stimulating the small business sector as an engine of job creation. But, as usual, the Administration’s efforts to improve the economy through stimulus measures also give rise to new risks for companies doing business with the federal Government – whether as a prime or a subcontractor, as a large or a small business.
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GAO Finds That Even Broadly Worded ID/IQ Contracts Have Their Limits
By Sheppard Mullin on
By Anne B. Perry and John S. Tobey
On March 15, 2010, the GAO determined that two Task Order Request for Proposals ("TORPs") to procure mentoring, training, and logistics support for the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and Afghan National Police were outside of the scope of a multiple-award indefinite delivery indefinite-quantity (‘ID/IQ") contract for counter-narcoterrorism support services. DynCorp International LLC, B-402349.
Continue Reading GAO Finds That Even Broadly Worded ID/IQ Contracts Have Their Limits
Final Rule Issued on Enhanced Competition for Task and Delivery Order Contracts
By Sheppard Mullin on
On March 19, 2009, the FAR Councils issued a final rule providing for enhanced competition for task and delivery order contracts. See 75 Fed. Reg. 13416 (Mar. 19, 2009). The final rule was the culmination of a rulemaking process that surfaced in Section 843 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-181 (the "Act"), which went into effect on May 27, 2008. Subsequently, on September 17, 2008, the FAR Councils issued an interim rule with request for comments. See 73 Fed. Reg. 54008 (Sept. 17, 2008). The interim rule essentially mirrored Section 843 of the Act. Comments on the interim rule were submitted by industry and government representatives on November 17, 2008.
Continue Reading Final Rule Issued on Enhanced Competition for Task and Delivery Order Contracts
COFC Endorses CDA Claim For Breach Of “Fair Opportunity To Be Considered”
By Sheppard Mullin on
The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act’s bid protest bar precluded contractors from challenging the award of a task or delivery order, subject to several limited exceptions — i.e., if the task or delivery order increased the scope, period or maximum value of the underlying IDIQ contract. Recent amendments to the Act expanded GAO’s bid protest jurisdiction to include challenges to task or delivery order awards valued at over $10 million. These amendments also provided for enhanced competition procedures for task or delivery order awards valued in excess of $5 million, but did not vest GAO or the Court of Federal Claims with jurisdiction to entertain bid protests based on alleged violations of those procedures. Thus, contractors seeking redress for agency errors in connection with the award of task or delivery orders valued at under $10 million were for the most part "out of luck."
Continue Reading COFC Endorses CDA Claim For Breach Of “Fair Opportunity To Be Considered”
Trust, but E-Verify: A Cheat Sheet for Mandatory Employment Eligibility Verification by Federal Contractors
By Sheppard Mullin on
The final rule mandating E-Verify for federal contractors became effective on September 8, 2009. The lawsuit that stayed implementation of E-Verify since January ended with the district court’s granting of the Government’s motion for summary judgment. As long as Congress continues to fund E-Verify, it should remain a permanent fixture of federal procurement.
Government Contractors Are Spared E-Verify (For Now) But Face Debarment for Hiring Illegal Immigrants
By Sheppard Mullin on
For the third time, the Government has agreed to delay the mandatory implementation of E-Verify for government contractors. They will not have to comply with E-Verify until June 30, 2009, when contracting officers can begin inserting FAR clause 52.222-54. Employment Eligibility Verification, into solicitations and contracts. 74 Fed. Reg. 17793.
E-Verify has been pushed back once already as a result of a lawsuit in federal district court filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other parties. As this Blog has previously reported, the plaintiffs challenge the mandatory use of E-Verify for government contractors by means of an Executive Order despite statutory language making its use voluntary. Plaintiffs moved for summary judgment, and the court agreed to a Government request to stay proceedings while the new Administration assesses the new rule.
Continue Reading Government Contractors Are Spared E-Verify (For Now) But Face Debarment for Hiring Illegal Immigrants