Government Contracts & Procurement Policy

In the United States, the practice provides “cradle to grave” assistance to federal, state, and local government contractors in a wide variety of regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters. We represent Fortune 100 companies, small businesses, and startups alike in their dealings with federal, state, and local governments and business partners such as resellers, manufacturers, prime contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. We serve clients in a wide variety of industries including information technology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, defense and aerospace, construction, and professional services.

Our core capabilities include, among others:

• Proposal/Contract Counseling/Negotiation: Assistance in reviewing proposals, solicitations, and contracts with respect to compliance obligations, evaluation/award issues, terms and conditions, and interpretation issues.
• Bid Protests: Assistance in litigation before the Government Accountability Office ("GAO"), the Court of Federal Claims ("COFC"), state courts, and administrative tribunals that challenges the propriety of a solicitation or contract award.
• Claims and Disputes: Assistance in administrative, state, and federal court litigation involving claims relating to government contracts and subcontracts.
• Research and Development (R&D) Contracting and Related IP Matters: Specialized assistance in negotiating and performing R&D agreements for the federal government, with a particular focus on ensuring that preexisting proprietary IP and IP developed under the agreements is protected and available for commercialization.
• GSA/VA Contracts: Specialized assistance in negotiating and performing contracts for commercial items such as information technology, medical devices, tools, and other commercially available products and services, and implementing systems to ensure that clients comply with their disclosure, pricing, foreign sourcing, and other obligations.
• Due Diligence/M&A: Assistance in assessing the risks associated with acquisitions of government contractors, negotiating appropriate protective provisions in the acquisition agreements, and obtaining government approvals (contract novations and otherwise) required by law and regulation.
• Debarment/Suspension: Assistance with administrative proceedings relating to a company’s eligibility for government contracts.
• Ethics/Compliance: Developing and providing required codes of conduct and training on government contracts matters required by regulation or otherwise, as well as assistance on mandatory disclosure obligations.
• Investigations/Fraud Proceedings: Conducting internal investigations into procurement fraud matters, assisting clients who are the subject of investigations by the Department of Justice and/or administrative agencies, and defending clients under the Civil False Claims Act and in criminal proceedings.
• Mandatory Disclosures: Assistance in investigating and filing numerous mandatory disclosures of legal violations or overpayments with numerous agency Offices of Inspector General and assistance in resolving any outstanding government concerns following review.

German Practice
Our German public procurement team has extensive experience advising contracting authorities, tenderers, and sponsors in the technology, infrastructure, healthcare, and construction industries. The team advises contracting authorities on structuring procurement proceedings, and advises bidders in public procurement proceedings. The team was also named "Law Firm of the Year for Public Procurement 2010" by JUVE.

Polish Practice
In Warsaw, K&L Gates is one of a very few international law firms in Poland with a full-scale public procurement practice. Our Warsaw lawyers have extensive experience in the preparation of bids as well as with the administrative appeal process and litigation. The team has intimate knowledge of Polish laws surrounding procurement, since our lawyers drafted the first Polish law on public procurement and executory orders in accordance with World Bank standards.

The Warsaw team’s recent experience includes:

• Counseling Atlantia SpA and Autostrade SpA in connection with the A2 Stryków-Konotopa Motorway BOT offer and tender negotiations;
• Representing a foreign producer in a tender for the supply of the transport and VIP helicopters for the Polish Army;
• Representing foreign defense contractors in a variety of matters related to defense procurement and offset; and
• Advising Aeronautics, one of the world’s leading producers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with commercial and public procurement matters, including a tender announced by the Polish Minister of National Defense for a supply of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Polish Army in Afghanistan.

U.K. Practice
The public procurement lawyers in the London office have extensive experience of advising contracting authorities, bidding consortia and individual companies on all aspects of EU public procurement law. They advise clients across all sectors, including construction and engineering, infrastructure, outsourcing and IT services. Recent advice has included:

• Advising a major IT company on its negotiations with the UK government over a dozen existing contracts, where the UK government is seeking to reduce the amounts payable to the contractor;
• Advising a major management consulting firm on challenges to award decisions made by the UK government;
• Advising local municipalities on how to structure competitions under the Competitive Dialogue procedure prior to appointing private sector partners to work with them on regeneration projects;
• Advising a PPP consortium in connection with an Alcatel standstill letter issued in Northern Ireland.