Our Government contracts attorneys provide the full range of Government contracting counseling and litigation services to help clients achieve their business goals and remain in compliance with the complex laws and regulations that define working with the U.S. Government.
We represent Government contractors of all sizes, from enterprising start-ups to large prime contractors and span virtually all industries – defense and aerospace, intelligence, information technology, professional services, transportation and maritime, health care and construction services. Our clients rely on our depth of legal knowledge, decades of experience and sound business judgment to counsel them throughout the life cycle of Government procurements. We help clients with evaluation of solicitations, prosecution or defense of bid protests, requests for equitable adjustments, resolution of disputes during contract performance or response to investigations. Our attorneys also help clients with teaming arrangements, mentor-protégé relationships, joint ventures, subcontracting, mergers and acquisitions, navigating the complex regulatory environment, including small business regulations, ethics advice and compliance audits and plans.
Government Contract Attorney At OFP
We offer deep and practical knowledge of how to work with Government agencies, thereby helping contractors navigate with ease and confidence. Such expertise helps clients to win contracts, qualify for small business set aside procurements and resolve disputes during performance of contracts without litigation. However, should litigation become necessary or unavoidable our team has extensive experience litigating before all forums handling the unique issues that arise under Government contracts. Our attorneys prosecute and defend bid protests, assist in the preparation and/or litigation of requests for equitable adjustments, resolve disputes during contract performance and respond to investigations.
Assistance In Qualifying For Small Business Set Aside Contracts.
- Assist clients in meeting and properly documenting their qualifications for various categories of small businesses under the Small Business Administration’s regulations, such as Disadvantaged Small Businesses, Section 8(a) Program participants; Women Owned Small Businesses; and HUBZone Small Businesses.
- Assist clients in meeting and properly documenting their qualifications for Veterans Administration’s regulations for Veteran Owned Small Business or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.
- Represent the client in defending protests of its small business eligibility or size status before the Small Business Administration or prosecuting protests of the small business eligibility or size status of a competitor.
Assistance In Winning Government Contracts
- Evaluate solicitations to identify provisions that restrict competition or require clarification and convince an agency to make changes to eliminate such deficiencies.
- Assist clients in reviewing and drafting teaming agreements, mentor-protégé agreements, and joint ventures to qualify for procurements.
- When necessary, protect our clients’ interests by prosecuting or defending bid protests before the procuring Agency, Government Accountability Office, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and small business eligibility, size and NACS Code appeals before the Small Business Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Assistance In Performing Government Contracts
- Assist clients in reviewing and drafting subcontracts in compliance with the prime contract and resolving disputes between the prime and subcontractors that may arise during performance.
- Assist clients in understanding and compliance with FAR regulatory clauses and other provisions incorporated into the Government contract or subcontract by reference.
- Assist clients in identifying changes in the contract, price, or schedule that arise during performance and preparing the required presentations to the Government, including Requests for Equitable Adjustment.
- Assist clients in resolving disputes involving changes, delays, disruptions, terminations, and other matters that may arise during contract performance through negotiation with the Government. When necessary, this means protecting our clients’ interests in assisting with reviewing and drafting and pursuing formal claims and appeals in litigation before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition.
- Assist clients in recovering costs in the event of a Termination for Convenience or converting a Termination for Default into a Termination for the Government’s convenience.
Assistance In Responding To Investigations, Audits Or Compliance With Ethics And Other Issues Arising During Performance Of Government Contracts.
- Assist clients in responding to allegations of False Claims Act violations, including Qui Tam actions, whistleblower complaints or investigations by an Agency Inspector General or U.S. Attorney.
- Assist clients in establishing effective ethics and compliance programs, conduct internal investigations, assist clients with understanding their obligations under the FAR’s Mandatory Disclosure rules, defend against litigation and assist with corrective action when appropriate.
- Assist clients in compliance with labor regulations such as the Service Contract Labor Standards (formerly known as the Service Contract Act) and Wage Rate Requirements Stature (formerly known as the Davis Bacon Act), as well as other Department of Labor requirements imposed upon Government contractors and subcontractors and responding to investigations and enforcement actions initiated by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
- Assist with reviewing/drafting plans to avoid or mitigate an Organizational Conflict of Interest or Personal Conflict of Interest.
- Assist in the protection of client data rights, Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets.
Areas of Concentration
- Bid Protests
- Claims and Appeals
- Corporate Issues, Mergers & Acquisitions and Due Diligence
- Cost Accounting and Cost Allowability
- Data Rights and Protection of IP and Trade Secrets
- Employment Issues in Government Contracting
- Ethics and Compliance Programs
- Service Contract Act (SCA)
- Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts (DBRA)
- Affirmative Action Plans
- Ethics Plans
- Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Plans
- Personal Conflict of Interest (PCI) Plans
- Government Claims and Terminations
- Internal Investigations and False Claims Act
- Regulatory and Procurement Counseling
- Requests for Equitable Adjustment, Claims and Disputes Litigation
- Compliance with Federal Solicitations
- Small Business Programs
- SBA 8(a) Business Development Program
- SBA HUBZone Program
- SBA Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB)
- SBA Women-Owned and Economically-Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB)
- U.S. Department of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veteran-Owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (VOSB) Businesses
- District of Columbia’s Small and Local Business Development’s certification program
- Maryland’s Minority/Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program
- Virginia’s Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned Business (SWaM) certification program
- Suspension and Debarment
- Teaming Arrangements and Subcontracting
- Teaming Arrangements
- Subcontracts
- Strategic Alliances
- Joint Venture Agreements
- Mentor-Protégé Agreements
- Whistleblower Defense
Representative Matters
- Bid Protests, Claims & Controversies
- A team of OFP GovCon and litigators successfully represented a government contractor in litigation before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. After extensive discovery OFP filed a motion for summary judgment and won 100% of the multi-million dollar amount claimed by the contractor, plus over $500K in interest.
- Represented general contractor in the prosecution of claims against a California public agency before the California Office of Administrative Hearings. The contractor’s claims included delays, productivity impacts, differing site conditions and additional direct costs. The agency counterclaimed alleging violations of the California false claims act. The trial spanned seven months. Following post-trial briefs, the case settled very favorably with the contractor recovering nearly $10 million.
- Represented contractor in the prosecution of claims at the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. The contractor’s claims evolved from the construction of a hospital and the trial spanned five months. The contractor recovered on numerous of its claims.
- Represented the consortium of contractors in managing claims related to the construction of the international airport in Muscat for the Sultanate of Oman. Researched and developed claims and marshalled them through the project administrative dispute review process.
- Represented the contractor on the task order contract utilized by the U.S. government to support the armed forces related to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Represented international development company in bid protest related to award of an overseas contract. As a result of the protest, the agency was forced to take corrective action and reevaluate the offerors’ proposals.
- Represented foreign contractor in a bid protest against the Corps of Engineers related to various construction projects for the U.S. government abroad. Resolution of the bid protest resulted in the contractor receiving awards on five additional contracts totaling approximately $50 million.
- Intervened on behalf of the awardee on a construction project for the U.S. government in response to a bid protest filed by an aggrieved bidder. The protest was ultimately dismissed, and the client was able to perform the contract.
- A team of OFP litigators successfully appealed and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement that fully compensated a government contracting client. The litigation followed a federal contracting officer’s decision to terminate for default a prime government contract held by the client. Attorneys in the firm’s government contracts and litigation practice groups appealed the default termination, seeking to reverse the decision of the contracting officer to a termination for convenience and collect damages not only for a convenience termination, but also for breach of contract and bad faith. After extensive discovery and on the eve of the two-week trial dedicated to the default termination, the government conceded and agreed to reverse the termination for default to a termination for convenience and pay the client’s damages. This not only saved the client the two-week trial in Florida and allowed it to recover its damages, but also resulted in the correction of past performance ratings that could hinder the client’s ability to win government contracts in the future.
- OFP successfully represented a government contractor in a GAO bid protest by convincing the procuring agency to take corrective action and award an additional contract to the client, despite the fact that the company previously had been excluded from the competition due to an alleged technical noncompliance with its proposal. The firm was even successful in getting the government to reimburse the client for fees incurred as a result of the protest. In another bid protest, OFP successfully represented a client before the GAO challenging the award of a $117 million contract by the Office of Personnel Management based on the agency’s failure to conduct a reasonable price realism analysis.
- The firm successfully defended a major DoD prime contractor against a group of former employees/qui tam relators in a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by convincing the District Court to dismiss their complaints based on a lack of specificity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). By obtaining dismissal of this suit before formal discovery began, the firm saved the client millions of dollars in potential liability for the alleged false claims and hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation expenses.
- OFP represents an international contracting company that provides mission readiness solutions for military fleets worldwide. Since the company’s formation more than 20 years ago, the firm has served as the company’s primary counsel, advising the organization on an array of legal issues and representing it in contract litigation in state and federal courts.
- A client lost a $75M contract for IT services and hardware to a company that was using a small business contractor as a front. We protested the size status of the awardee, and the SBA determined it was not small due to affiliation with a large business. The award was subsequently cancelled, and the contract awarded to our client — a legitimate small business.
- A client who discharged a mid-level manager faced false allegations of committing fraud under government contracts and threatened with a qui tam false claims law suit. We thoroughly investigated the allegations, established extensive facts refuting the false claims allegations and provided a complete report to the U.S. attorney. The threatened false claims suit was never filed.
- A client lost a multi-million dollar service contract it had been performing for five years due to bias on the part of government personnel. A GAO protest was sustained and the agency told to reevaluate the proposals and make a new award. When the agency tried to cancel the solicitation rather than comply, we filed a protest at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, were allowed to take discovery and prove the agency had no legitimate basis to cancel the solicitation. The court even issued an injunction prohibiting three government officials from further involvement in the reevaluation. We also sought and recovered 100% of the legal fees incurred by our client prosecuting the protest.
- A client providing intelligence training services to military special forces at a specially built facility had its contract terminated for convenience when the military activity moved from the Washington, D.C. area. Then, the government used our client’s proprietary information to duplicate a new training facility. We prosecuted a claim for the misappropriation of this proprietary information and negotiated a favorable settlement.
- A business providing services to federal agencies was excluded from a follow-on contract. After two GAO and two U.S. Court of Federal Claims protests, the client was awarded a new contract to provide services to federal civilian agencies under task orders for the next 15 years.
- Employment Counseling & Disputes
- Represented a contractor in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a subcontractor employee who was baselessly imprisoned by a foreign government. Ultimately, the employee was released by the foreign government and the case favorably settled on behalf of the contractor.
- The firm provides on-going employment law support for a government contractor with approximately 7,000 employees, who recently reached $1 billion in revenue. This support includes enforcing covenants not to compete against several senior managers and negotiating the peaceful departure of a manager with performance deficiencies who had engaged in protected activity. OFP also advises the client on compliance with family medical leave laws, disability accommodation, and anti-discrimination statutes.
- OFP employment attorneys successfully resolved a government contractor’s termination of an employee based outside of the continental United States who lodged a complaint under the U.S. Department of Defense’s whistleblower charges through negotiations under the DoD’s OIG ADR program for full release of claims, payment of less than two months’ pay, and no admission of liability.
- Business Transactions
- OFP represented a government contractor for over a decade through numerous challenges including the unexpected death of the founder, who was a service-disabled veteran, the subsequent discovery that the CFO had been embezzling from the company, and ultimately the sale through an auction process of the client to a private equity firm.
- The firm has represented an ESOP-owned corporation for seven years with respect to corporate governance (i.e., board of directors) matters regarding the ESOP. For example, OFP has advised the company on the following: amending the ESOP; advising when pass-through voting by ESOP participants must occur; and discharging the board’s fiduciary duties regarding the later issuance of equity securities.
- OFP represented a client to help structure a tax-free reorganization to formally separate into distinct legal entities its government contracting services from its commercial services.
- OFP provides on-going leasing needs for a fast-growing international technology government contractor with over 1,000 employees in more than 30 countries, including the lease of its headquarters and expansions, relocations and extensions thereof, and most other leasing needs nationally.