Insights

Washington – January 3, 2022: Crowell & Moring elected 13 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2022. The firm also promoted seven to the position of senior counsel and 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media; Antitrust & Competition; Corporate; Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Government Contracts; Health Care; Technology & Intellectual Property; International Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation; and Privacy & Cybersecurity.

On March 20, 2025, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”), “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement,” to consolidate domestic civilian contracting for “common goods and services” within one agency—the General Services Administration (“GSA”). The EO defines “common goods and services” as those described in the Category Management system first developed as part of a previous effort, dating back to 2014, to coordinate spending across the government.

On February 26, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”), “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative,” to transform federal spending on “covered” contracts, grants, and loans. The EO defines “[c]overed contracts and grants” as “discretionary spending through Federal contracts, grants, loans, and related instruments, but excludes direct assistance to individuals; expenditures related to immigration enforcement, law enforcement, the military, public safety, and the intelligence community; and other critical, acute, or emergency spending, as determined by the relevant Agency Head.”

In MVL USA, Inc. et al. v. United States, the United States Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) held that the provisions of FAR 22.505, 52.222-33 and 52.222-34 (collectively, the “PLA mandate”), which required the use of project labor agreements (“PLAs”) on large-scale federal construction projects valued above or at a certain threshold, violated the Competition in Contracting Act (“CICA”). As we previously reported here, former-President Biden issued Executive Order 14063 in February 2022, instructing federal agencies to require construction contractors and subcontractors on projects valued at $35 million or more to “agree, for that project, to negotiate or become a party to” a PLA. A few months later, the FAR Council promulgated a final rule implementing the executive order in FAR 22.505, 52.222-33 and 52.222-34. 

Please join Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group as we discuss 2022 changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). Among other topics, we will cover: revisions to the Buy America Act; new FAR requirements that certain entities disclose their use of workforce and facilities in China; proposed changes to the DFARS on noncommercial computer software; and new and proposed FAR amendments implementing changes to the Small Business Administration’s regulations.

Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, hosts Rob Sneckenberg and Christian Curran are joined by guest Liam O’Reilly to discuss the Federal Circuit’s recent Inserso decision and how it may impact the COFC’s waiver analysis for pre-award solicitation challenges.