Insights

Washington – June 20, 2024: The D.C. Bar named Crowell & Moring partner John McCarthy the 2024 Laura N. Rinaldi Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year. The award is presented to a lawyer for “their excellence, achievement, and commitment to providing legal services to the District’s low-income and/or disadvantaged individuals and/or organizations serving such individuals.”

Washington – June 6, 2024: Crowell & Moring earned 78 rankings for 67 lawyers, as well as 41 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2024 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

Washington – June 1, 2023: Crowell & Moring earned 82 rankings for 68 lawyers across 48 categories, as well as 37 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2023 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

On May 3, 2024, in Geospatial Technology Associates, LLC v. United States, COFC No. 16-346C, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and, alternatively, for summary judgment due to alleged inaccuracies in a copyright registration, holding that plaintiff Geospatial Technology Associates, LLC’s (“plaintiff” or “GTA”) patent and copyright infringement claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1498 raise issues that “must be addressed at trial.” This newest development follows GTA’s original March 2016 lawsuit against several government agencies—including the Department of the Army, the Department of the Air Force, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (“NGA”)—alleging patent and copyright infringement of the underlying software code of its product, “NINJA.pro.” 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held in Avue Technologies Corp. v. Department of Health and Human Services that an appellant’s non-frivolous allegation of a contract with the government via an end-user license agreement (EULA) incorporated into another contractor’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) agreement was sufficient to establish jurisdiction under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA).

Generally, a GAO protest challenging the terms of a solicitation is timely if filed within 10 days after the denial of an agency-level protest, “even if filed after bid opening or the closing time for receipt of proposals.”  4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(3).  Accordingly, the salient consideration for determining when that 10-day clock begins to run is when the agency denies the agency-level protest.  But in Marathon Medical Corp., B-422168.2, February 14, 2024, GAO held that if an agency has not ruled on a pre-award agency-level protest as of the closing date for receipt of proposals, then the protest is deemed denied as of that date—and the protester’s clock for filing a GAO protest begins to run—even if the agency later issues an actual decision denying the protest. 

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the next installment of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our next sessions are described below.

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our February session is described below.

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch of our Government Contracts Breakfast Series. All of the sessions will be held in Northern Virginia and focus on issues most important to government contractors. Our third session is described below.

Crowell & Moring will address individually small business size and each status that can be claimed in federal government contracting. We’ll cover: the eligibility requirements for each status; the certification process (if any); discussion of regulatory and statutory changes as well as any significant caselaw from 2021; and coming developments in 2022. 

Join Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts and Privacy & Cybersecurity attorneys for a webinar discussion of key provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 that will impact government contractors and critical infrastructure providers.  Topics addressed in the FY2022 NDAA that will be covered in our webinar include among others: 

DoD has had the authority to enter OTAs for years.  Recent changes to that authority in the 2016 NDAA and DoD’s novel and reinvigorated use of that authority for R&D through various consortia have created both new opportunities and risks for companies.