SBA OIG and Other Investigations Agencies Have Stepped Up Procurement Fraud Cases for 8a Government Contracts The Eastern District Court bought the gravel down on two federal contractor executives for SBA 8a small business fraud and abused the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8a contracting program to obtain more than $31 million… Read more »
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 »
Can I Appear Pro Se in Government Contracts Litigation? Rather than hiring a government contracts attorney, some company owners attempt to file their own dispute against the federal government. This is called appearing pro se – choosing to advocate on your own behalf than being represented by a lawyer. Choosing to appear… Read more »
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 notice in government contracting. Another reason is that your response to FAR cure notice or some version of a letter… Read more »
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 »
After filing a contract claim against the government, you finally receive the bad news from the Agency – a denial of claims. 17% of government contract claims will be denied. In addition, 33.2 % of appeals to the Board shall be dismissed or denied either for lack of jurisdiction or hearing… Read more »
Being subject to the Federal Prompt Payment Act, 31 USC 3901-3905 (the “PPA” or “Act”) for government construction projects puts business owners in a financial strain when the government does not pay invoices on time. The Act was enacted to facilitate early payment to contractors when work is timely performed… Read more »
Analyzing what is a voidable contract is sometimes confusing even sophisticated parties. For example, many recent construction cases involved instances where the contract between the contractor and the government was held by the ASBCA to be a voidable contract given various mistakes made by the contractor. It is important for… Read more »
Contractors that are a party to federal and DOD contracts can assert claims against the federal government. However, there are certain legal requirements to keep the claim intact. Defects in your claims submission can delay or sometimes even completely void the claim. Also, improperly submitted claims can prevent an appellate… Read more »
A recent SBA procurement fraud schemes and corruption case resulted in four retired and one active-duty Army National Guard official pleading guilty to their role in procurement fraud crimes under the SBA 8(a) Program. The result and consequences of procurement fraud and corruption ended in the award of millions of dollars… Read more »