Lawyers in our national Government Contracts practice often collaborate with other firm practices when handling complex litigation, sensitive internal investigations, corporate restructurings, and more. Related areas of counsel include the following:

• Commercial Litigation
• Mergers & Acquisition
• Cybersecurity
• Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
• Intellectual Property
• Labor & Employment
• White Collar & Investigations
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Robotics

Guided by an unwavering focus on client service, our lawyers assist in a variety of industries, from defense and aerospace to semiconductors and information technology (including companies selling software-based solutions), as well as communications, energy, nuclear, maritime, environmental, construction, and professional services. Our lawyers also develop life sciences contracts, including those awarded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic under Operation Warp Speed (OWS) and its successors, the Countermeasures Acceleration Group (CAG), and Health and Human Services Coordination Operations and Response Element (H-CORE).

Through broad experience and knowledge of the procurement process, our lawyers are well acquainted with the contracting officials, lawyers, and auditors working at the largest government agencies. Equally importantly, these government officials know and respect the depth and experience our lawyers bring to their engagements, allowing for productive dialogues with government agencies and department authorities.

Lawyers in the firm's Government Contracts practice participate and hold leadership positions in various bar associations, including the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the Board of Contract Appeals Bar Association. We also present regularly to industry- and client-focused groups such as the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the Association for Corporate Counsel (ACC).

Our creative team of lawyers meets unusual challenges with innovative solutions, while our knowledge and experience ensure that technical skills and pragmatic, business-oriented perspectives are brought to the issues that our clients face.

Government contractors must stay compliant with a changing patchwork of cybersecurity requirements. In recent years, government contractors’ cybersecurity has become a top priority for the U.S. government amid heightened concerns about malicious threat actors targeting sensitive government information. Our lawyers draw upon knowledge in multiple practice areas to help our clients understand compliance obligations related to cybersecurity, handle internal and government investigations, anticipate emerging regulatory and contractual requirements, and effectively respond to cyber incidents and disclosures to agencies.

Now, more than ever, the government is seeking to identify and disincentivize noncompliant and insufficient cybersecurity practices. The government’s approach includes using the False Claims Act (FCA) to bring enforcement actions alleging deficient cybersecurity products and services and false representations regarding compliance with cybersecurity requirements. Maintaining cybersecurity policies and practices that are demonstrably compliant and reasonable is essential to reduce risks. Experienced counsel can help assess and, if necessary, adjust your security posture. When issues do arise, we offer counsel that can engage effectively with the government.

Perkins Coie’s Government Contracts bench includes former DOJ lawyers with experience handling matters involving national security, cybersecurity, and allegations of fraud. We are able to provide a cross-disciplinary approach to meet clients’ needs. Perkins Coie’s lawyers have served in roles such as DOJ’s Liaison to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Cyber Division and National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, as senior counsel in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of DOJ, as a cyber prosecutor in DOJ’s National Security Division, and as a trial attorney in DOJ’s Civil Division focusing on government contracts litigation. This depth enables us to help our clients respond to government enforcement in multiple contexts. Additionally, we partner with a range of cybersecurity professionals and have lawyers with extensive experience with cybersecurity at a technical level, including a Certified Information Systems Security Professional[1], a holder of a Ph.D. in Computer Science, and a holder of a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity to help bridge the gap between the infosec stack and legal.

Representative Experience

• Counseling defense contractors on Defense FAR Supplement 252.204-7012 compliance.
• Advising companies with respect to FedRAMP cloud computing security requirements.
• Counsel contractors related to flow-down subcontracting issues pertaining to cybersecurity.
• Representing contractor during investigation of potential cybersecurity incident at a federal agency
• Advising U.S. subsidiary of foreign corporation on security measures required to conduct business with Department of Defense

[1]  Certification is issued by ISC2 (www.isc2.org).

Companies subject to government investigations or internal investigations require experienced counsel to navigate the complex disclosure processes and avoid potential suspension or debarment arising out of alleged criminal or civil law violations.

Perkins Coie’s investigative work related to government contracting involves allegations of faulty manufacturing practices, collusive bidding, cost accounting and mischarging issues, defective pricing, procurement integrity violations, and fraud. Internal investigations must be handled with the utmost discretion and often within urgent time limitations, as many of the issues related to an internal investigation can trigger a federal investigation. Our lawyers are adept at handling the parallel enforcement actions that various government entities may pursue. Experienced in working and negotiating with federal prosecutors, agency Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs), Suspension and Debarment Officials (SDOs), and other government officials, we help resolve legal issues on behalf of our clients. When allegations of criminal misconduct arise, we work with colleagues from the firm’s White Collar & Investigations practice. Clients often call our lawyers to help fashion the remedial actions that are required as a result of our investigation.

Disclosures to the Government

Perkins Coie possesses a wealth of experience advising on whether and how to make voluntary or mandatory disclosures to the government, as well as issues resulting from these disclosures. In recent years, federal officials have paid more attention to contractors’ obligations to follow rules regarding mandatory disclosure to the government of “credible evidence” of violations of criminal fraud statutes or the False Claims Act (FCA). Our team has also assisted clients in making the often nuanced and difficult decision not to make such a disclosure or to make a disclosure through alternative means.

Suspension and Debarment

For a government contractor, nothing is more vital than its eligibility to compete for and hold government contracts. Any threat to those rights must be handled with extreme sensitivity. When a federal agency considers suspension or debarment of a contractor, our lawyers combine technical skill and credibility in responding to the threat. Our team has experience working with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and civilian agency SDOs to help resolve threatened or actual suspensions and debarments and to convince the SDOs that our clients are responsible contractors.

It is not only a criminal guilty plea or verdict that can result in suspension or debarment. SDOs are among the federal officials who have grown more attuned to failures of contractors to follow mandatory disclosure rules. Additionally, the specter of suspension or debarment presents itself virtually any time an SDO believes an issue involves a contractor’s business honesty or integrity.

Our lawyers have worked and negotiated with key agency decision-makers to forestall and prevent agency suspensions and debarments and are fully versed in the mandatory disclosure rules that often trip up unwary contractors. Finally, our team is skilled at crafting government contract compliance programs that help clients avoid issues that might present the threat of suspension and debarment. Whether suspension and debarment threatens a contractor of any size or an individual, our lawyers stand ready to respond.

Representative Experience

• Negotiating a favorable resolution when an entire sector of a client company was proposed for suspension and/or debarment.
• Advising an intelligence contractor regarding overcharged amounts and the best manner to disclose the issue to the government.
• Investigating alleged faulty manufacturing issues related to an aircraft platform and negotiated favorable settlement of related FCA violations with the government.
• Representing a government contractor in an investigation conducted by an agency OIG involving federal grant monies.
• Representing a government contractor in an investigation conducted by an agency OIG. Investigated alleged overcharging of intelligence agencies for telecommunications services and handled negotiations with the government over FCA implications of the alleged overcharging.
• Investigating the implications to our client of a subcontractor’s disclosure to the government of counterfeit electronic parts entering the supply chain of a major weapon system and assisted with related suspension and debarment issues.
• Representing corporate and individual clients in a U.S. Department of the Army debarment process, resulting in the clients’ removal from list of entities and persons proposed for debarment.
• Representing a U.S. Postal Service contractor in reversal of three-year debarment for Service Contract Act (SCA) violations by demonstrating “unusual circumstances.”

Life sciences and biodefense companies often work closely with the federal government on projects under a variety of agreements, including pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, laboratory equipment, medical supplies and devices, and medical industry-related software. Our lawyers partner with these companies in matters relating to contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and other transaction authority issues. We have developed a particular focus on biodefense, pandemic influenza preparedness, and the government’s COVID-19 response.

For many years, Perkins Coie lawyers have represented life sciences clients working with a broad array of federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) (including HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under its Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program. Our team includes in-house experience with a major pharmaceutical company with large-scale research and development (R&D) contracts relating to the development of influenza, Ebola, and anthrax countermeasures.

We work from start to finish with our clients on life sciences contracts, including counseling on initial solicitation requirements, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), contract administration and performance issues, compliance, cost accounting, claims, intellectual property (IP) and cybersecurity issues, as well as licensure with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

We have also drafted and negotiated numerous subcontracts related to government programs, including those for assay development, laboratory testing, clinical and nonclinical studies, contract manufacturing, fill/finish manufacturing, and product supply, storage, and transportation.

With Perkins Coie’s broad range of practice areas, we believe that collaboration is critical to success. Therefore, our Government Contracts practice works closely with other firm lawyers to provide comprehensive service with respect to government projects. This includes lawyers with experience in FDA requirements, IP, patent portfolio management, labor and employment law, corporate law, and M&A.

Representative Experience

• Assisting companies in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including under the government’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS) public-private partnership and its successors, the Countermeasures Acceleration Group (CAG), and Health and Human Services Coordination Operations and Response Element (H-CORE).
• Assisting life science companies in responding to Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) with White Papers and full proposals and assisted in the negotiations of contemplated Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Agreements and Cooperative Agreements.
• Advising life sciences companies regarding IP issues, including data rights and disclosures of inventions.
• Assisting life sciences companies to establish compliance programs under their government contracts.
• Conducting a detailed government contracts compliance review of a large, publicly traded medical device company.
• Assisting life sciences companies with respect to agency negotiations regarding compliance requirements and performance issues, including FDA-related requirements.
• Counseling life sciences clients on the FCA, the Procurement Integrity Act (PIA), conflicts of interest, cybersecurity, and mandatory disclosures.
• Resolving a multimillion-dollar request for equitable adjustment under a life sciences contract.
• Addressing multiple prime-subcontractor disputes under large life sciences contracts.
• Assisting a publicly traded company in responding to a request for proposals for medical devices.
• Representing a VA FSS pharmaceutical contractor regarding a potential termination for convenience related to FDA regulatory concerns.
• Conducting government contracts training sessions for medical device and biopharmaceutical companies.
• Providing legal assistance to a publicly traded company in responding to requests for proposals for several different medical countermeasures under Project BioShield, resulting in awards worth several hundred million dollars.
• Representing an offeror in a pre-award agency-level protest that reversed its exclusion from the competitive range, later resulting in an award of a biodefense contract in excess of $100 million.
• Representing a fill/finish manufacturer under its prime contract with BARDA in negotiations with its subcontractor.
• For a period of more than 10 years, providing ongoing support on all aspects of large biodefense contracts (in excess of $500 million) for the provision of medical countermeasures to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, including contract administration and compliance matters.
• Counseling a biodefense contractor in negotiating significant amendments to BioShield contracts.
• Negotiating numerous multimillion-dollar subcontracts related to biodefense programs, including negotiations with several universities.
• Representing a leading biodefense contractor in a public-to-public takeover through an arrangement for approximately $300 million.
• Working with lobbyists to provide Capitol Hill and agency staff with legal and scientific analyses in support of BioShield legislative issues.

Companies performing government contracts may be required to comply with nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations required by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations.

Perkins Coie’s lawyers assist clients with regulatory and legal requirements of the DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations are complex and require deep knowledge of the agency and its operations. Further, recent U.S. Supreme Court cases on affirmative action—as well as recent focus on employers’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts—require that federal contractors approach their obligations with a nuanced approach that can withstand greater public scrutiny.

We assist clients in navigating the full range of OFCCP’s activities, including Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) preparation, compliance audit representation, and enforcement litigation defense. By partnering with our clients to respond to specific questions, we address tailored issues, work through troublesome situations, and guide the implementation of client policies.

The team’s federal contractor compliance and investigations work is led by a former Associate Solicitor for Civil Rights and Labor Management at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that role, he served as the chief legal counsel to OFCCP and has deep knowledge and experience in the agency’s operations. He is also a nationally recognized figure on pay equity matters, an issue of particular significance given OFCCP’s focus on compensation discrimination during the Biden administration.

Our lawyers publish articles, conduct training, speak at seminars, and conduct employer audits throughout the country. They also author the OFCCP chapter of the Practising Law Institute’s annual yearbook.

Representative Experience

• Creating compliance programs for new government contractors regarding their nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations.
• Representing a federal contractor in one of the few compensation discrimination enforcement actions brought by OFCCP and obtaining a favorable resolution of the matter.
• Obtaining a favorable resolution in an OFCCP audit of a university, which resulted in no back wage liability or other damages.

Whether the government has asserted a claim against a company, or a company seeks to file a claim against the government for payment of monies owed under a government contract, our team can help to defend or prosecute such claims.

Perkins Coie’s Government Contracts practice helps clients develop and litigate contract claims by and involving the government in a variety of forums, including claims under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) involving defense and civilian agency contracts. Our team draws upon significant government contracts litigation and regulatory knowledge to help clients pursue effective strategies to avoid and resolve complex contract disputes. The team has litigated high-dollar-value contract cases before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA), the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and federal district courts. We also represent clients in arbitrations, including in matters such as government cost accounting, breach of contract claims, and prime-subcontractor disputes.

Our team helps clients prepare and pursue Requests for Equitable Adjustment (REAs) and CDA claims tailored to their business objectives, as well as other damages claims arising under the Tucker Act. We also assist clients in anticipating and managing disputes with subcontractors as well as counsel clients on dispute resolution strategies related to all aspects of federal procurement. By applying knowledge involving underlying Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisitions Regulations Supplement (DFARS), we help clients assess and prepare damages claims requirements.

Representative Experience

• Representing a government services contractor in prime-subcontractor dispute before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and AAA arbitration.
• Securing a substantial win for a major aerospace defense contractor in an arbitration proceeding with its subcontractor under a large government contract.
• Representing The Boeing Company in a favorable resolution of a $72 million claim under an Air Force F-15E aircraft simulation training contract.
• Representing The Boeing Company in the successful defense of the contractor practice of “netting” the impacts of simultaneous accounting changes.
• Representing a company in breach of contract action against the United States involving sale of real property.