• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

McCarter & English Logo

  • People
  • Services
  • Insights
  • Our Firm
    • Leadership Team
    • Social Justice
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Pro Bono
    • Client Service Values
    • Alumni
  • Join Us
    • Lawyers
    • Summer Associates
    • Patent Professionals
    • Professional Staff
    • Job Openings
  • Locations
    • Boston
    • Philadelphia
    • East Brunswick
    • Indianapolis
    • Stamford
    • Hartford
    • Trenton
    • Miami
    • Washington, DC
    • New York
    • Wilmington
    • Newark
  • Share

Share

Browse Alphabetically:

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • X
  • Y
  • Z
  • All
Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Litigation
Blockchain, Smart Contracts & Digital Currencies
Business Litigation
Cannabis
Coronavirus Resource Center
Corporate
Crisis Management
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Delaware Corporate, LLC & Partnership Law
Design, Fashion & Luxury
E-Discovery & Records Management
Energy & Utilities
Environment & Energy
Financial Institutions
Food & Beverage
Government Affairs
Government Contracts & Global Trade
Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
Healthcare
Hospitality
Immigration
Impact Investing
Insurance Recovery, Litigation & Counseling
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Life Sciences
Manufacturing
Products Liability, Mass Torts & Consumer Class Actions
Public Finance
Real Estate
Renewable Energy
Sports & Entertainment
Tax & Employee Benefits
Technology Transactions
Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain Management
Trusts, Estates & Private Clients
Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Companies
  • Broadcasts
  • Events
  • News
  • Publications
  • View All Insights
Search By:
Insights News Courthouse Columns
Main image for Top Gov’t Contracts Cases from the 2nd Half of 2018
News|Quote

Top Gov’t Contracts Cases from the 2nd Half of 2018

Law360

12.20.2018

Courts have handed down a number of important decisions for federal contractors in the second half of 2018, with the Federal Circuit having been particularly busy, addressing issues ranging from an important federal preference law to how specific agency corrective action must be.

Agencies Have Broad Discretion When Taking Corrective Action

In October, the Federal Circuit backed the U.S. Army‘s broad corrective action for its $5 billion Army Desktop Mobile and Computing procurement, a program to buy commercial off-the-shelf computer hardware.

The Army had faced a raft of protests from unsuccessful bidders, with only nine of 58 bidders considered to have made technically acceptable bids. The excluded bidders argued that they had misunderstood the requirements for filling out Army-provided spreadsheets, and that the Army should have conducted pre-award discussions to offer additional guidance.

In response, the Army effectively issued a resolicitation allowing for new proposals with new pricing, which then prompted new protests from the originally successful bidders, including a unit of computer hardware giant Dell. Those bidders argued that because their pricing had already been publicly revealed, they would be put at a competitive disadvantage in the new round of bidding. The corrective action should have been much narrower, the bidders said.

But the “narrowly targeted” standard used by the claims court was too strict, the Federal Circuit ruled, saying the Army‘s corrective action only had to be “rationally related” to fixing its mistakes.

Franklin Turner, co-leader of McCarter & English LLP’s government contracts practice group, said that although the shift may be notable, the practical difference may be small.

Whatever the articulated standard, agencies have always had broad discretion to fashion corrective action, as long as they can show a reasonable nexus between a procurement defect and the intended correction, he claimed.

“This just rubber stamps what most bid protest lawyers will tell you — protests about corrective action are always a long walk uphill, in the snow, without any shoes,” Turner said.

Click to read this article: “Top Gov’t Contracts Cases from the 2nd Half of 2018”

sidebar

pdfemail

Related People

Media item: Franklin C. Turner
Franklin C. Turner

Partner

Related Services

Business Litigation
Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
Subscribe to our Insights
McCarter & English, LLP
Copyright © 2023 McCarter & English, LLP. All Rights Reserved.
  • Login
  • Attorney Advertising
  • Privacy
  • Awards Methodology
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Sitemap

The McCarter & English, LLP website is for informational purposes only. We do not provide legal advice on this website. We can provide legal advice only to our clients in specific inquiries that they address to us. If you are interested in becoming a client, please contact us, but do not send any information about your specific legal question. We cannot serve as your lawyers until we establish an attorney-client relationship, which can occur only after we follow procedures within our firm and after we agree to the terms of the representation.

Accept Cancel