By: Michael H. Payne
Subcontractors who are performing work on Corps of Engineers construction projects in Afghanistan frequently experience financial difficulties because they are not paid promptly and, in some cases, they are not paid at all. Unlike construction projects performed in the United States, payment bonds have frequently not been required by the Corps
Federal Procurement Policy
Beware the False Claims Act
By: Edward T. DeLisle
Pursuant to the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (CDA), every claim on a federal construction project that is in excess of $100,000 must be certified. The reasoning behind this policy is simple: the government wants to discourage the submission of questionable and/or inflated claims. As such, for each claim in…
MATOC – Some Winners and Mostly Losers
By: Michael H. Payne
There is an old saying that “you win some, and you lose some.” Well, if you are a construction contractor who competes in the world of Multiple Award Task Order Contracting (“MATOC”), you usually lose. Under sealed bidding, which dominated the procurement of federal construction for many years, a contractor who…
Has the Corps of Engineers Gone MATOC Crazy?
By: Michael H. Payne
The recent increase in the use of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (“IDIQ”) contracting for construction has become even more evident by looking at the “FY 2011 – Forecasted Acquisition Strategy” issued by the Jacksonville District of the Corps of Engineers. A review of the list reveals that the majority of the construction…
Veterans Win Significant Procurement Battle
By: Edward T. DeLisle & Craig Schroeder
Last year, the United States Association of Veterans in Business (“USAVETBIZ”) urged Congress for a government-wide preference in contracting and set-aside programs that extended the existing preference for service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”) to all veteran-owned small businesses. While that has not happened yet, the set aside…
Congress Acts, Ends HUBZone Priority
By: Edward T. DeLisle
On September 23, 2010, we wrote an article regarding the current status of the HUBZone priority fight between the GAO, the Court of Federal Claims and a number of federal agencies. That article followed another that we wrote on this issue on August 27, 2010. In a series of…
Government Agencies Defy GAO, Court Positions on HUBZone Priority
By: Edward T. DeLisle
On August 27th, we posted an article regarding the recent Court of Federal Claims case, DGR Associates, Inc. v. United States. In that case, the protesting contractor took the position that the government agency, the Air Force, failed to follow the direction of Congress in determining how to set aside…
HUBZone Priority Upheld by the Courts
By: Edward T. DeLisle
On August 13th, the Court of Federal Claims temporarily ended a controversy regarding how agencies go about setting aside contracts for certain qualified small businesses. DGR Associates, Inc. v. United States involved a decision by the Air Force to issue a set aside contract for qualified 8(a) companies. The project involved housing maintenance…
GAO Issues Report on President's 2011 Budget Proposal for Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program and Recommends Transparency of Presentation be Improved
By: Joseph A. Hackenbracht
On April 2, 2010, the Government Accountability Office responded to a request from the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development to evaluate “whether the President’s recent budget requests for the Corps are presented so that agency priorities are clear and proposed use of funds transparent.” In its analysis, the GAO…
Provisions Added to the FAR Concerning Use of Project Labor Agreements
By: Joseph A. Hackenbracht
On April 13, 2010, the FAR Council published in the Federal Register a Final Rule that adds a new section to the Federal Acquisition Regulation – Subpart 22.5 – Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects. The Final Rule implements Executive Order 13502, which President Obama signed on…