Understanding Termination for Convenience Settlement Proposal Appeals

After the government exercises its rights to terminate your contract under the termination for convenience clause, you then have to submit your damages in a termination for convenience settlement proposal. It must be done within one year.  Therefore, you must develop your settlement posture early. The government will almost always… Read more »

Bid Bond Guarantee and SBA Surety Bonds

Many contractors have questions about a bid bond guarantee and SBA surety bonds and if their rejected bids can be protested on these grounds.  Many government contracts require some form of a surety guarantee or bond.  If your proposal does not comply with the solicitation requirement for a bid guarantee,… Read more »

Termination for Default Government Contracts & Reprocurement Costs

When the federal government awards a contract, the Termination for Default Clause acts to the agency’s advantage in the end.When contractors attempt the appeal the agency’s contract termination for cause action, there are specific rules you must be aware of. One of them is paying damages to the government for… Read more »

FAR IDIQ Contract & Government Minimum Payment

How to Avoid Costly Mistakes With an IDIQ Contract and Dealing  With the Government Minimum Payment Guarantee The United States federal government and its procurement agencies use a variety of IDIQ contract vehicles to procure services and products. One typical example is the indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity IDIQ contract vehicle. By… Read more »

Responding to FAR Cure Notice & Show Cause Letter

Theodore P. Watson, Government Contracts Attorney. Termination for default cases on appeal often fails.  The general reason for such a failure rate is because of your response to a show cause letter in government contracting.  Another reason is that your response to FAR cure notice or some version of a letter… Read more »

Government Contract Dispute Claims Resolution

Although government contracting can be a lucrative business venture, contract dispute claims resolution with the government can sometimes be daunting and stressful. Oftentimes, businesses believe that they are doing ‘the right thing’ when the Contracting Office Representative orders them to perform extra work. Businesses may also believe that agencies will… Read more »

Federal Construction Scope of Work Changes

In government construction contracting, a general contractor often litigates contract disputes about construction scope of work changes but often finds out after thousands in litigation costs, that it has either failed to follow FAR procedure or took a substandard technical approach to get paid.  For large federal projects, the risk of… Read more »

FAR Part 16.2 Economic Price Adjustment Clause

Under the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) “fixed-price government contracts with an economic price adjustment clause provides for upward and downward revisions of the stated contract price upon the occurrence of specified contingencies.” This is covered in FAR Part 16.203-1(a).  To establish a case or bid protest challenging the agency’s improper use of… Read more »

Equitable Subrogation and Miller Act Claims

When filing claims against the government, under the theory of equitable subrogation, there are some tricky rules of law in place. For example, in a recent Court of Federal Claims case, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters, et al. v. United States, No. 14-84 C (Nov. 19, 2014), the court ruled that under… Read more »

Strategic Alliance Small Business Joint Ventures

Small businesses continue to use joint ventures as a strategic alliance to get larger government contracts.  There are various advantages and disadvantages of forming venture relationships. There are also specific rules that govern these alliances. Yet  small businesses continue to lose larger contracts due to increasing amounts of small business size… Read more »