Public Contracting Institute Blog
The Public Contracting Institute blog supplement our govcon training offerings with insightful articles written by leading professionals across the government contracts industry. Our professionals publish articles on topics on government contracts administration, accounting, bids/proposals, disputes, claims, and much more. For more inforamation about our blog, reach out to seminars@publiccontractinginstitute.com.
Additionally, look for the PCI Practical Matters Podcast, coming soon! It will cover the latest news in our industry, along with insightful commentary on the most important topics in Government Contracting.
Read your Contract and Remember the Rules
In two recent cases, one before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) and the other at the Federal Circuit, the contractors either failed to read their contract, or they ignored some basic contracting rules, like the plain meaning rule in contract...
Boards Lack Jurisdiction Over Real Property Disputes
The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals recently dismissed a claim on a default termination of a Department of State contract for construction and lease of residential housing for embassy personnel in the Dominican Republic. The contract also included an option...
Case of the Month – July 2020: Inserso Corp. v. United States
PCI is starting a new webinar series, the Case of the Month Club. Each month PCI's Government Contracts law experts will discuss one or two recent cases. The July case is Inserso Corp. v. United States. If you want to learn more about the Case of the Month Club,...
BCA Allows Claim Because Agency Failed to Understand its own Solicitation
In an interesting Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals case, the Board sustained a contractor’s claim for $962,020 for increased scope of work in creating technical manuals. Command Languages, Inc. d/b/a/ CLI Solutions, ASBCA No. 61216, Feb. 7, 2020. The...
Federal Circuit Adopts Federal Claims Standard on Disparate Evaluations
The Federal Circuit Court, never having previously a standard for evaluating disparate evaluation claims in bid protests, adopted the Fed. Claims Standard of “substantively indistinguishable” IN denying the protest appeal of Office Design Group v. U.S., Cuna Supply...
Boards Lack Jurisdiction to Hear Bid Protests
The following forums have jurisdiction to consider bid protests: Agency: jurisdiction provided by Executive Order 12979 and Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 33.103. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”): jurisdiction provided by Competition in...
Don’t Make a Fatal Mistake at the Boards of Contract Appeal
Recently, a contractor who had submitted a claim to its contracting officer, made a fatal procedural mistake when asking the Civilian Board for summary judgment. CSI Aviation, Inc. v. Dept of Homeland Security, CBCA 6292, Feb. 25, 2020. As readers well know, a motion...
What is a SUM CERTAIN?
As used in Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 52.233-1 (Disputes), a claim is a “ a written demand or written assertion by one of the contracting parties seeking, as a matter of right, the payment of money in a sum certain…” What is a “sum certain?” Consider...
Late is Late is Late
The relevant Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) provision gives contractors very little leeway in having a late bid submission considered. Either they get their offers or quotes in on time to the place specified in the solicitation or their submissions will be...
Reprocurement Contract May Not Exceed Undivided Term of Original Contract
After a contract has been terminated for default, Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 49.402-6 permits the agency to repurchase the same or similar services or supplies against the defaulted contractor’s account, as long as the supplies or services are still...
