Author Info for McCarter & English Blog: Government Contracts & Export Controls

Ethan Brown

What a Relief: GAO’s FY 2021 Bid Protest Statistics Indicate That Nearly 50 Percent of Protests Are Effective

On November 16, 2021, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued its Bid Protest Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021 (“FY 2021 Bid Protest Report”). The GAO’s annual Bid Protest Report to Congress—required under the…more

Bid Protests, Coronavirus/COVID-19, Federal Contractors, Fiscal Year, GAO

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Andriani Buck

The Devil Is in the Details: Recent GAO Decision Underscores the Importance of Checking the Agency’s Math

Virtually every year, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) Bid Protest Annual Report includes “flawed technical evaluations” as one of the top five most common grounds for successful protests. Simply stated, this means…more

AT&T, Bid Protests, Compliance, Corrective Actions, Debriefing

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Robert Burger

National Defense Authorization Act FY 2018: Directions In Federal Software Acquisitions

On December 12, 2017, President Trump signed the $700 billion 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) into law. Following negotiations between the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the NDAA includes new…more

Department of Defense (DOD), DFARS, Federal Contractors, Federal Pilot Programs, GAO

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Caroline Colpoys

A Gamble For Hawaiian Contractors: Hawaii Raises The Stakes For Contractors Betting On State Bid Protest Appeals

The cards are on the table, and the Hawaiian state legislature has dealt its state contractors a risky hand. A new bill, SB 1329, is set to eliminate the monetary cap on the bond required to challenge a procurement officer’s…more

Appeals, Bid Protests, Federal Contractors, GAO, Hawaii

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Robin Crauthers

The US Antitrust Agencies Join Forces to Cut the Red Tape

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a task force designed to eliminate anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations that “undermine free market competition and harm consumers, workers, and businesses.”…more

Antitrust Provisions, Competition, Department of Justice (DOJ), Energy Sector, Executive Orders

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Marcos Gonzalez

DOD Releases Final Rule Prohibiting the Acquisition of Certain Magnets from Nonaligned Foreign Nations

China dominates the rare earth industry, accounting for approximately 60 percent of rare earth metal mining and approximately 90 percent of rare earth metal processing in 2023. In order to combat this near-monopoly and to limit…more

China, Department of Defense (DOD), DFARS, Final Rules, NDAA

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Zlatko Hadzismajlovic

FEMA Opens A Door And Closes A Window: A Primer On FEMA’s Broad Efforts To Obtain And Retain Medical Supplies To Combat COVID-19

FEMA Seeks All Comers to Supply Government with COVID-19 Supplies Through its website, the Federal Emergency Management Association (“FEMA”) is encouraging the private sector to step up and support the agency in its response…more

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Coronavirus/COVID-19, Emergency Management Plans, FEMA, State of Emergency

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Andrew Hamilton

In the Wake of High-Profile Terminations of Grants and Cooperative Agreements, Courts Begin to Weigh In

Over the past few months, the second Trump administration has taken quick actions to suspend and terminate federal awards predating the transition of power. Many of these actions have resulted in the termination of “federal…more

Administrative Procedure Act, Colleges, Compliance, Department of Education, Federal Funding

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Tiffany Hubbard

DEI, Discrimination, Affirmative Action and More: How the Recent Executive Order Impacts Private Employers

Amid a flurry of executive orders starting his second administration, President Donald Trump issued an order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”) on January 21, 2025. The…more

Affirmative Action, Anti-Discrimination Policies, Civil Rights Act, Compliance, Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I)

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Daniel Kelly

Georgia Federal Court Blocks Federal Contractor COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Nationwide

Judge R. Stan Baker of the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued an order (Order) on December 7, 2021, enjoining the federal government “from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and…more

Coronavirus/COVID-19, Executive Orders, Federal Contractors, Federal Employees, Joe Biden

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Philip Lee

OMB Issues Guidance to Agencies on Responsible Artificial Intelligence Acquisitions

Contractors interested in offering federal agencies artificial intelligence (AI) can now glean insight into how agencies are expected to conduct AI acquisitions. On September 24, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)…more

Artificial Intelligence, Executive Orders, Facial Recognition Technology, Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Federal Contractors

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Alexander Major

Hold My Beer: The Trump Administration’s Bold Plan to Rewrite the FAR

On April 15, 2025, President Trump issued a sweeping executive order (EO), “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement.” As reflected in its accompanying Fact Sheet, the EO promises to rewrite the Federal Acquisition…more

Contract Disputes, Contract Terms, Executive Orders, Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Federal Contractors

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Hugh Murray, III

DEI, Discrimination, Affirmative Action and More: How the Recent Executive Order Impacts Private Employers

Amid a flurry of executive orders starting his second administration, President Donald Trump issued an order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”) on January 21, 2025. The…more

Affirmative Action, Anti-Discrimination Policies, Civil Rights Act, Compliance, Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I)

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Katarina Overberg

Coming Soon? The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (SPOILERS)

Sure, America has the Grand Canyon, baseball, and apple pie, but you know what it doesn’t have? A nationwide data protection law. Instead, data protection has been left up to a pastiche of state laws, regulations, and…more

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Data Privacy, Data Protection, Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

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Maria Panichelli

Executive Order Aims to Consolidate Procurement of Broadly Defined ‘Common Goods and Services’, All IT GWACs, under GSA

Another day, another executive order (EO) that will transform federal procurement as we know it. A March 20, 2025 EO entitled “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement” and its accompanying fact…more

Compliance, Executive Orders, Federal Contractors, General Services Administration (GSA), Government Agencies

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Franklin Turner

Hold My Beer: The Trump Administration’s Bold Plan to Rewrite the FAR

On April 15, 2025, President Trump issued a sweeping executive order (EO), “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement.” As reflected in its accompanying Fact Sheet, the EO promises to rewrite the Federal Acquisition…more

Contract Disputes, Contract Terms, Executive Orders, Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Federal Contractors

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Matthew Wright

Whisper Through the Screams: DOJ Commits to False Claims Act Enforcement in 2025

Amid the chaos of the past few weeks—sweeping executive orders, relentless cost-cutting, and an air of uncertainty that lingers like smoke after a fire—federal contractors have been left reeling, straining to hear what comes…more

Compliance, Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Justice (DOJ), Enforcement Actions, False Claims Act (FCA)

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Cara Wulf

CMMC and DFARS 252.204-7021—Is the Sequel Better than the Original?

Sequels are rarely better than the films that precede them, and yet, sometimes a story is just too compelling to be limited to just one film. At the tail end of a summer full of Hollywood sequels, the Department of Defense (DoD)…more

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), Defense Contracts, Department of Defense (DOD)

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McCarter & English Blog: Government Contracts & Export Controls

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