Government Contracts

Overview

Government contracting can be a maze. We'll be your guide.

Government contracting in today’s marketplace presents both great opportunities and challenges. Public-sector customers rely on contractors more than ever, but contractors face heightened risks presented by an increasingly competitive landscape, ever-changing regulations, and aggressive enforcement. Our Government Contracts practice, a 2022 Law360 Practice Group of the Year, provides the resources, deep experience, and client-focused service necessary to help contractors successfully navigate these risks and achieve their business objectives. 

We lead the way with proven experience in all aspects of government contracts law, from the fundamentals to high-stakes litigation and investigations. 

We draw on the diverse experience of a deep bench of attorneys focused exclusively on government contracts law and litigation. Our team includes recognized leaders in the government contracts bar, many of whom are former senior agency counsel, government trial attorneys, and assistant U.S. attorneys. Whether your business needs strategic counseling or guidance on high-stakes matters—from bid protests to government audits and investigations—we advocate for you.

Our clients span the industry, from companies new to the public sector to those in the Fortune 500, and include leaders in the defense, professional services, information technology, maritime, aviation, healthcare, energy, and construction sectors.

How We Can Help

  • Bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • Contracts disputes
  • Corporate issues, mergers and acquisitions, and due diligence
  • Defense industry cybersecurity issues
  • Domestic preferences
  • Employment issues in government contracting
  • Ethics compliance advice, audits and plans
  • Expeditionary and contingency contracting
  • Export Controls, Buy America Act, ITAR, CFIUS, EAC, OFAC, and the Trade Agreement Act
  • False Claims Act (“FCA”) and procurement fraud
  • Federal grants
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”)
  • Government audits and investigations
  • Government claims and disputes 
  • Government relations
  • GSA schedule and commercial item contracts
  • Healthcare contracting
  • Schedule contracting 
  • Small business subcontracting
  • State and local government procurements
  • Suspension and debarment

Our strengths lie in handling clients’ most challenging government contracts matters, particularly those requiring an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the knowledge of the firm’s many complementary practices. 

Our approach focuses on bringing the right resources, counsel, and capabilities to resolve our clients’ issues, whether it be advising on a new regulatory development or guiding a client through a bet-the-company government investigation.

We routinely handle any kind of legal issue a government contractor may encounter, including government cost, accounting and pricing issues; audits and investigations; Multiple Award Schedule procurements; contract performance claims; terminations; mandatory disclosure issues; FCA litigation; and compliance matters. 

What Sets Us Apart

  • Our team is the foundation of our success, with more than 20 attorneys focused exclusively on government contracts law and litigation, including all aspects of procurement law. This gives our clients both depth and breadth of experience—ranging from regulatory matters to disputes and litigation to transactions.
  • We are best known for success in dispute resolution and litigation, compliance and enforcement, False Claims Act cases, and bid protests.
  • We are one of only a handful of practices that can handle the most sophisticated litigation, counseling, and transactional matters for government contractors.
  • We were named one of six government contracts practices nationwide on Law360’s Practice Groups of the Year list, and are perennially highly ranked for Government Contracts by the Legal 500. We are ranked nationally in the “Government Contracts: The Elite” category by Chambers USA, where editors praised us for our “depth and breadth of expertise in the government area” and for serving as “good business and legal advisers in the government law arena,” and sources reported, “They clearly bring depth and a client-first orientation to the matter.”

  • We pride ourselves on our responsiveness, efficiency, collaboration, and client service, and are honored to be recognized for our leading capabilities in the industry.
  • Clients benefit from our attorneys’ broad range of industry and government experience, with members of our team having previously served as federal prosecutors, federal agency attorneys, GAO attorneys, and in-house counsel.
  • Our Government Contracts Navigator blog provides insight and analysis on emerging issues facing the government contracting industry, from new statutes and regulations to enforcement trends to major cases of interest. We provide regular, practical guidance on these developments to legal and compliance professionals and others supporting the missions of public customers nationwide.

Experience

  • Successfully defended the award of a $6.7 billion production contract to a major defense manufacturer in the Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Program, the largest tactical wheeled vehicle procurement in Army history. Our win followed extensive proceedings before both the GAO and Court of Federal Claims.
  • Successfully protested the exclusion of a leading global services provider from a competition for a $10 billion, 10-year Department of State procurement to support law enforcement and counter-narcotics activities across several continents.
  • Helped secure a contract award for a leading specialized engineering, scientific, and technical services company following a successful protest of a $1.7 billion, 10-year NASA program. The decision set key new precedent regarding the impact of mergers and acquisitions during a procurement.
  • Successfully represented a leading medical products company in one of the largest and longest-running FCA cases in history under the Medicare and Medicaid programs related to Average Wholesale Pricing (“AWP”) of drugs, including parallel cases that were filed by over 20 states. Most recently, we convinced a First Circuit Court of Appeals panel to affirm the dismissal of an FCA action against our client, and to prevent the reopening of a $29.8 million settlement in the AWP multidistrict litigation.
  • Represented a Fortune 100 global management consulting and technology services firm, in connection with its $569 million contract to develop the Federal Facilitated Marketplace, which implements the Affordable Care Act and enables consumers to obtain affordable health coverage through the Healthcare.gov website by allowing them to compare and select health plans, and ultimately to enroll with a health provider.
  • Secured the dismissal of several FCA cases against a Fortune 500 hardware and software reseller based upon alleged violations of the Trade Agreements Act.
  • Successfully resolved an FCA case on behalf of the largest container shipping company in the world in an FCA suit related to detention charges for cargo shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Successfully resolved an FCA case on behalf of one of the largest systems integrators in the world in multiyear litigation related to technology alliances—part of a series of cases involving the largest procurement-related FCA litigation in the last decade.
  • Resolved a government claim on behalf of a leading professional services contractor arising from a DCAA audit of an incurred cost proposal that questioned $12 million in self-insurance costs. Our responses to the claim and legal analysis led the government to withdraw the entire claim without litigation.
  • Represented a logistics and public works contractor in a lawsuit by a subcontractor in the Eastern District of Virginia arising from the Army’s failure to pay our client millions of dollars for work at one of the largest Army bases in the United States. We secured payment from the Army following Touhy requests relating to the prime contract and favorably saw the lawsuit through motions practice and mediation.

Team

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