Can the President (normally through the Office of Management and Budget—"OMB”) use a pocket rescission in order to withhold budget authority (funding) for government contracts and other government expenditures without Congressional consideration of a rescission proposal?  The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) says this procedure is unlawful, however, to date, the Supreme Court has allowed it to happen in the Trump administration, albeit only with an Emergency Ruling th

Once again, a manufacturer ran afoul of Part 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation by failing to understand how purchase orders operate in federal procurement.  Warfighter Defense, Inc., ASBCA No. 63924, July 16, 2025.  Warfighter failed to understand that its actions in failing to accept a purchase order (“PO”) from the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”), either in writing or by substantial performance, meant that there was no contract between the company and DLA, and no r

In a cost-plus fixed fee contract, where the Agency’s actual requirements are substantially lower than the Agency’s initial estimated hours, is the contractor entitled to its full fee? This issue was recently explored in an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“Board”) case, Vectrus Sys. Corp ., ASBCA Nos. 62685, 62949. Vectrus contended that its fixed fee represents the agreed-upon profit, but the Agency alleged that it was only obligated to pay for actual contractor

This blog recently discussed the danger of using Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) improperly to write briefs and pleadings at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”).  See “ The Danger of Using Artificial Intelligence Improperly ,”| Oct 13, 2025, which demonstrated how the GAO was sanctioning attorneys who misused AI. Now comes the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ("ASBCA" or “Board”) which criticized a brief that “hallucinated” fictitious cases and imposed sanctio

When a contractor brings an appeal of a claim to a Board of Contract Appeals (“Board”), it is the contractor’s responsibility of the Appellant to establish Board jurisdiction.  Board jurisdiction derives from 41 U.S.C. § 7105(e)(1)(A) which confers jurisdiction to decide an appeal from a decision of a contracting officer relative to a contract made by that department or agency.  Peace Ambition Const. Co., ASBCA Nos. 63938, 64024, July 10, 2025.  Peace Construction provides a

Appellant Chizoma Onyems is the sole owner of a limited liability company, CB Portable Toilet Rental and Service.  He is not a licensed attorney.  His company contracted with the government to provide services at Camp Lejeune.  After the contract was terminated for convenience, CB Portable (the company) submitted a certified claim, and then appealed it to the Board, where Mr. Onyems represented the company. The Board granted $16,000 in damages (plus interest) to CB Portable. 

GE Renewables US, LLC (“GE”) sought in its appeal a declaration that it had the right to pursue a price adjustment in a contract that contained an economic price adjustment (“EPA”) clause.  GE Renewables US, LLC,  ASBCA No. 63842, June 24, 2025.  The only significant consequence of such a declaration would be a price adjustment (not a change in contract performance or the avoidance of costs) and the Board deemed the claim a “monetary claim” which required a statement of a “su

In a bid protest issued in July 2025, a Court of Federal Claims Judge issued a scathing criticism of a Navy evaluation of offers for a mixed procurement to provide Egypt with a Nationwide Maritime Surveillance system via a foreign military sale.  Advanced Tech. Sys. Co. v. United States, (Fed. Cl. No. 25-515), July 16, 2025.  Judge Somers said that the Navy used “vague and conflicting past performance criteria [and failed] to provide any explanation for the award decision it

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its annual bid protest report to the Congress for fiscal year on December 12, 2025 (B-158766). The GAO actually received 1803 protests in fiscal year (“FY”) 2025 but dismissed or immediately denied a substantial number of them, while actually considering and issuing decisions on 380 protests, known as “merit decisions.”  The GAO sustain rate increased slightly from 16 percent in FY 2025 to 14 percent in FY 2024. (Note: The

This blog has repeatedly explained that the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) will not sustain a bid protest even if the agency has violated a Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) requirement, unless there is competitive prejudice.  This means that a protester must demonstrate there was a significant error in the procurement process and prove that, without that error, they had a substantial chance of receiving the award. But what does this mean in the case where an a

When a contracting officer (“CO”) asks an existing contractor for a proposal for additional work and then withdraws that request, the request for proposal (“RFP”) is not a constructive change on the contract.  Walsh Turner Joint Venture II, ASBCA No. 63665, May 8, 2025.  The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals dismissed Walsh Turner’s claim because it failed to state a claim. Walsh Turner was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract by the Corps of Engineers for construction

When the government supplies a contractor (such as in a solicitation) with a defective design specification, the government is deemed to have breached an implied warranty that satisfactory contract performance will result from adhering to the specification.  This is known as the “Spearin Doctrine” and arose in the case of United States v. Spearin,  248 U.S. 132 (1918).   If the product or service produced by the contractor is not satisfactory, the government is in breach of t

You may have thought that a small noncompliance in font size of the page number would be ignored in evaluating proposals.  Wrong.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) issued a request for quotations (“RFQ”) for program support to various USDA missions, including farm production and conservation.  But one of the offerors was eliminated from the competition in the initial step of the evaluation because its quotation failed to comply with the RFQ on font size, as explain

Readers of this blog understand that an ambiguity exists in a solicitation or a contract where there are two or more reasonable interpretations of the terms or specifications.  There are two types of possible ambiguities:  patent and latent.  A patent ambiguity exists where the solicitation or contract contains an obvious, gross or glaring error. The contractor is required to raise this ambiguity with the agency when it is discovered.  A latent ambiguity is more subtle, and

The Government Acountability Office (“GAO”) recently held that in a Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) Part 8.4 procurement, an agency can reasonably engage in exchanges with only the “best suited” vendor, when the solicitation (an RFQ) indicated that such exchanges might occur.  A Square Group, LLC, B-421792.5, April 11, 2025.  A Square Group (“ASG”) protested the issuance of a task order issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Med

The Armed Services Board recently considered a contractor’s appeal that was submitted more than 90 days after the Contracting Officer’s final decision on the underlying claim.  The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.  Logistics and Rental Car SARL, ASBCA No. 63950, April 9, 2025. Logistics was awarded a contract in 2019 by the Marine Corps (“USMC”) for the rental of non-tactical vehicles at Camp Lemonnier, Dijbouti, Africa.  The USMC and Logistics executed a

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently denied a protest where a company failed to price in its proposal required Contract Line Items Numbers (“CLINs”), and the agency did not request clarifications.  GovTranz, LLC, B-423249. March 25, 2025.  The solicitation (a request for proposals, or “RFP”) was for ground wheelchair transportation services. The solicitation sought ground wheelchair transportation services for patients at a Veterans Affairs Meical Center in A

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) supported an agency decision and found a protester was ineligible for award where its...

The problem of improper use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in cases and pleadings has been a recurring theme over the past year or two....

Many government contract professionals think of “claims” as something that only contractors submit, but the Contract Disputes Act (“CDA”)...