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 15, 2024, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued Acquisition Letter MV-2024-01 providing guidance to GSA contracting officers on the use of upfront payments for acquisitions of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).  Specifically, this acquisition letter clarifies that despite statutory prohibitions against the use of “advance” payments outside of narrowly-prescribed circumstances, upfront payments for SaaS licenses do not constitute an “advance” payment subject to these restrictions when made under the following conditions:

Key Takeaways:

On August 23, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its final rule and notification of final guidance addressing implementation of the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) provisions enacted with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which requires the use of domestic iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials in infrastructure projects supported with federal financial assistance.  The final rule goes into effect October 23, 2023, and applies to federal awards for infrastructure projects awarded after November 15, 2021.  We previously reported on OMB’s February 9, 2023 proposed guidance here.

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.