Tag: procurement

Government Contract Law: The Deskbook for Procurement Professionals, Fourth Edition

The fourth edition of Government Contract Law is a comprehensive, step by step guide through all aspects of federal government contracting and incorporates numerous significant changes in procurement since the Third Edition was published.

To purchase, click here.

Government Contract LawBased on the Contract Attorney’s course of The Judge Advocate General’s Law Center and School, this valuable deskbook is designed to help you safely navigate the entire federal contracting process — from pre-bidding through award, and on to protest and litigation — with the least risk to your client or company.

Since the last edition, there have been many changes in government contract law.  The executive branch has implemented several policy initiatives through the power of federal contracting, including revised labor policies.  Similarly, Congress has implemented changes, including regulation of contractor business systems, trafficking in persons, and provisions addressing problems that have been identified in the past decade such as perceived misuse of commercial items.  What has not changed is the basic system of acquiring goods and services.

This fourth edition of the ABA’s revisions to the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School’s Contract Law Deskbook, includes updates to references, new chapters (which do not appear in the JAG School’s version) as well as chapter revisions that include material that is useful to contractor attorneys and the private bar.  This edition has been expanded and can be used by military attorneys as well as practitioners who are not a part of the military.

This Deskbook has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, served as a foundation for numerous continuing legal education materials, and is used daily by hundreds of attorneys.

 

A Change to the Suspending and Debarring Official (SDO) Position at NASA

On March 8, 2016, a final rule changed the position of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (“NASA”) suspending and debarring official (“SDO”).  The SDO had been NASA’s Assistant Administrator for Procurement.  The final rule reassigns the position to NASA’s Deputy General Counsel.  Public comments were not accepted because NASA concluded that the change “affects only the internal operating procedures” of the agency.

Not mentioned in this action is Section 861(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013.  That law applies to the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), the U.S. Department of State (“State”), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (“USAID”), not to NASA, but for those agencies it specifically prohibits the not-uncommon practice of having a procurement officer act as an SDO.  Last year, in International Relief and Development, Inc. et al. v. United States Agency for International Development et al., No. 15-CV-854 RCL (D.D.C.), a federal court concluded that such an arrangement at USAID likely violated Section 861(a).

Section 861(a) precipitated a necessary discussion on the independence and impartiality of SDOs.  It is not hard to imagine how an SDO who also serves as a procurement officer could be predisposed against a contractor.  But even if NASA’s change tacitly acknowledges this concern, it hardly resolves it.  Conditioned already to advocate for a particular client, agency counsel are sure to have predispositions, as well.

Article By Frederic M. Levy & Jade C. Totman of Covington & Burling LLP

© 2016 Covington & Burling LLP