govconlaw

In an Executive Order issued on January 7, 2026, entitled “Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting,” President Trump announced a new effort to identify suppliers of critical weapons and equipment that are underperforming on their contracts and, simultaneously, engaged in stock buy-backs or corporate distributions. According to the President, this new effort will focus...

Recent litigation in the D.C. Circuit highlights the growing legal risks facing companies operating in conflict-affected and high-corruption environments, particularly where commercial activity intersects with terrorist financing concerns. In Atchley v. AstraZeneca UK Ltd., the court revived claims under the Anti-Terrorism Act (“ATA”) alleging that pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies indirectly financed terrorist attacks...

In a recent bid protest decision, Markon LLC, B-423767-.4, December 12, 2025, the Government Accountability Officer (GAO) delivered a pointed reminder about the limits of agency discretion in cost realism evaluations. In this case, which involved a solicitation for business operations, information technology engineering support, and business enterprise modernization services, the Central Intelligence Agency...

Those of us who have spent time working in—or with—the federal government over the past several decades know that government shutdowns are not entirely uncommon.  There have actually been a total of 21 government shutdowns over the past 50 years, with the last occurring in 2019 and the longest lasting 35 days. By the...

A recent GAO protest decision, Wright Brothers Aero, Inc., B-423326.2, July 7, 2025, provides contractors with a helpful reminder of the risks posed by delaying a protest, even if the contractor believes that they do not “definitively” know of a basis for protest. GAO’s Bid Protest Regulations contain strict rules regarding timeliness, and disappointed...

Congress established the Government Accountability Office in 1921 to act as a source of objective, non-partisan information on government operations, most importantly, the executive branch. This authority extends to the review of federal government contracts—whether federally appropriated funds are being properly spent and whether procurements are being conducted fairly so as to bring the...