Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Stop us if you've heard this before. If you tell contractors bidding on a big procurement you're going to use Plan X for evaluating prices, you better use Plan X. Otherwise you could lose a protest. That's what happened to the Navy in a $2.5 billion program. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain more of what happened and the lessons learned in this week's Legal Loop.
When awarding a competitively-bid contract on past performance, you better make sure you look carefully at references the bidders provide. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found this out the hard way. It lost a protest when a services contractor complained ICE didn't do its due diligence on past performance. The Government Accountability Office agreed. In this week's Legal Loop Segment, procurement attorney Joe Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell tells Tom Temin on the Federal Drive about the lessons learned from the case.
An energy inspector general investigation has found several problems with the way Sandia National Laboratories awarded billions of dollars in maintenance and operations contracts to Lockheed Martin. The IG found a lack of competition and violation of at least one important statute. In this week's legal loop, attorney Joe Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Driveto explain what this investigation means for Sandia Martin.
Contracting officers have a lot of authority when it comes to deciding who wins federal contracts, but they don't have unlimited discretion. That's what the contracting officer who awarded a deal to USIS found out. In a sustaining protest, the Government Accountability Office says the contracting officer should have paid more attention to allegations of fraud against the company. In this week's Legal Loop segment, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss this case.
Consider this: You're a contracting officer. Your technical representative recommends one contractor out of three who are competing for task orders. You give eight orders to the recommended one, two to another and zero to the third contractor. Now, suppose your representatives were bribed by that first contractor. Yep, it all ended up in court. In this week's legal loop, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the lessons learned.
How's this for a bid protest case? Two companies bid and both have the same price for the project. One company gets higher ratings for what the source selection authority called a multitude of highly innovative processes and insightful technology trends. In this week's legal loop segment, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss how the case unfolded.
A big contractor goes to court to challenge the Veterans Affairs Department's plan to limit a solicitation for services to small businesses - and the big guy wins. The details of the case make it one to watch, according to our procurement expert. Attorney Joe Petrillo explained the case of Rotech v. United States on the Federal Drive.
Probably every contracting officer has been tempted to do it. Lowball the size of an acquisition so that it falls under small business rules. Or accept a lowball bid from a contractor that knows better. A part of the Transportation Department tried this with a contractor that was about to graduate from the 8(a) program. Oops. The deal ended up in court. Lots of egg splatter to go around. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain the case in this week's legal loop segment.
ASBCA sounds like the people telling you to be nice to dogs. But the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals is all about military contracting, and what happens when it goes wrong. The Board has adopted some new rules to help streamline things and iron out ambiguities. In this week's legal loop, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with the details.
After spending $1 billion on a failed border security fence project, the Homeland Security Department restarted the project a couple of years ago. But it didn't get far. A $145 million award for seven new surveillance towers has been halted thanks to a successful protest. Raytheon filed the protest against the winning bidder, EFW, an affiliate of the Israeli defense contractor Elbit. The Government Accountability Office sustained the protest. In this week's legal loop segment, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to sort out the case.
The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council would require all contractors at the prime and sub levels to report counterfeit or suspected counterfeit parts to the government.
Congress back in 2012 ordered Defense agencies and contractors to get a handle on counterfeit or non-conforming electronic parts. The FAR Council has taken a liberal reading of the law, and now we're beginning to see the scope of the reporting that will be required. How does a half million new reports per year grab you? In this week's legal loop segment, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive for an explanation.
A major war contractor is expecting a $45 million check from the U.S. government. A military appeals board has sided with Kellogg Brown & Root in its quest to get the government to reimburse it for security in Iraq. KBR paid out of its own pocket for private guards to protect convoys carrying supplies to the U.S. military. Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to take a closer look at the five-year battle in this week's Legal Loop.
How much should contractors charge the government for labor for a project? Perhaps not surprisingly, it depends on the type of contract and what the government instructed the contractor to do. It gets murkier when subcontractors are involved. In a long running case between QinetiQ and the General Services Administration, GSA is asking for millions it says the company overcharged. The company sued, saying it was doing what the government asked for. In this week's Legal Loop, procurement attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to sort out this highly-watched case.