Description
Gain a better understanding of the concepts that take place during any given rise to procurement challenges and disputes.Many federal, state and local government contractors failed to maximize their procurement opportunities and effectively deal with the challenges that arise from those opportunities because they do not understand, or are reluctant to use, the procedures provided to them by applicable law and regulation to ensure that they receive fair and honest consideration by government agencies in the pursuit of contracts and in performing them without loss or default. This topic helps contractor management, capture, and administration teams to understand the issues that may arise at all phases of the procurement process from draft solicitation to final contract close out and the means available to effectively handle those challenges by the bid protest and disputesclaims processes available to them, using the federal system, with some particular state and local references as well, as an instructive guide. Emphasis will be placed upon such important subtopics as ensuring interested party status, complying with all timeliness and other filing and procedural requirements, and understanding what issues to raise and facts to support them that will maximize the contractor’s ability to file a successful protest, to successfully defend against a competitor’s protest, and to obtain a satisfactory result in a request for equitable adjustment or claim.
Date: 2019-12-18 Start Time: End Time:
Learning Objectives
Contract Formation
• Pre-Award Procurement Challenges and Disputes/ How to:
• Protest Ambiguous Solicitation Specifications and Terms
• Protest Unduly Restrictive Specifications and Terms
• Avoid, Neutralize or Mitigate Conflicts of Interest
• Protest Exclusion or Elimination From the Competitive Range
• Protest Intended Awards to Non-Small Business or Other Non-Qualified Competitors Firms
• Protest a Lack of Meaningful Discussions
• Obtain a Stay of Award
• Post-Award Challenges and Disputes/ How to:
• Use Debriefings as an Effective Discovery Tool
• Meaningfully Assess Chances for Success
• Understand Timeliness Requirements
• Obtain a Stay of Performance
• Decide Where to Protest
• Make Planning for Protests an Integral Part of the Contract Capture Process
• Protest a Failure to Properly Apply Stated Evaluation Criteria/Use of Unstated Criteria
• Protest Best Value Award Determinations
• Protest Cost/Technical Trade-off Decisions
• Protest Cost Realism and Cost Reasonableness Determinations
• Protest a Failure to Conduct Meaningful or Fair Discussions
• Protest a Competitor’s Actual or Apparent Conflict of Interest
• Intervene and Defend Your Award
Contract Administration and Performance
• Changes/ How to:
• Give Proper Notice
• Submit a Request for Equitable Adjustment
• Respond to a Cardinal Change
• Handle Repeated Modifications to Scope or Price
• Dispute Design Requirements in a Performance-Based Contract
• Major Issues and Disputes/How to:
• Avoid a Termination for Default
• Avoid Debarment or Suspension
• Challenge a Termination for Default
• Challenge a Debarment or Suspension Action
• Respond to a Termination for Convenience
Contract Close-out
• Final Settlement/How to:
• Submit the Final Invoice
• Agree Upon the Final Accounting
• Obtain a Release
• Agree Upon the Past Performance Rating
• Claims/How to:
• Avoid Statute of Limitations Issues
• Know When a Dispute Has Arisen
• Properly Prepare the Claim
• Know What a Certification Entails
• Know the Applicable Time Periods
• Know What Is a Deemed Denied Claim
• Successfully Litigate a Claim
• Successfully Settle a Claim
Richard Moorhouse-Greenberg Traurig, LLP
