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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Compliance Mentorship Program: Improving Ethics And Compliance In Small Government Contractors, Jessica Tillipman, Vijaya Surampudi
The Compliance Mentorship Program: Improving Ethics And Compliance In Small Government Contractors, Jessica Tillipman, Vijaya Surampudi
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Over the past decade, the anti-corruption, ethics, and compliance landscape has changed dramatically. This is a direct consequence of a global anti-corruption enforcement effort led by the United States through its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The increase in enforcement has also been spurred by the adoption of several multilateral anti-corruption agreements, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). These agreements have spurred several countries to enact anti-corruption laws, such as the U.K. Bribery Act, Brazil’s Clean Company Act, and France’s Loi Sapin II. The …
Anti-Corruption Internationally: Challenges In Procurement Markets Abroad—Part Ii:The Path Forward For Using Procurement Law To Help With Development And The Fight Against Corruption, Daniel I. Gordon
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2012), discusses developing issues in international public procurement. Among other things, the paper suggests that there is growing recognition of the role that procurement can play in national development and the fight against corruption. In the paper the author points out that, while there is a worldwide trend toward more and more similar procurement systems, that trend does not mean that procurement systems are becoming, or should become, uniform. Moreover, the author contends in the paper that procurement law has only a limited role in national development …
Reflections On The Federal Procurement Landscape, Daniel I. Gordon
Reflections On The Federal Procurement Landscape, Daniel I. Gordon
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This paper, published in the Government Contractor, presents the reflections on the author's service as the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy from 2009 through 2011. The author identifies his three goals for his tenure as Administrator: strengthening the federal acquisition workforce, driving fiscal responsibility in federal acquisition, and rebalancing the relationship with contractors. The author points to reversal of several negative trends, in particular, decline in the size of the federal acquisition workforce during the years 1992-2009, unsustainable annual increases in procurement spending during those years, and an unhealthy overreliance on contractors in performance of key government functions. In each …
Dead Contractors: The Un-Examined Effect Of Surrogates On The Public’S Casualty Sensitivity, Steven L. Schooner, Collin D. Swan
Dead Contractors: The Un-Examined Effect Of Surrogates On The Public’S Casualty Sensitivity, Steven L. Schooner, Collin D. Swan
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Once the nation commits to engage in heavy, sustained military action abroad, particularly including the deployment of ground forces, political support is scrupulously observed and dissected. One of the most graphic factors influencing that support is the number of military soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice on the nation’s behalf. In the modern era, most studies suggest that the public considers the potential and actual casualties in U.S. wars to be an important factor, and an inverse relationship exists between the number of military deaths and public support. Economists have dubbed this the "casualty sensitivity" effect.
This article asserts …
The Wto’S Revised Government Procurement Agreement - An Important Milestone Toward Greater Market Access And Transparency In Global Public Procurement Markets, Robert D. Anderson, Steven L. Schooner, Collin D. Swan
The Wto’S Revised Government Procurement Agreement - An Important Milestone Toward Greater Market Access And Transparency In Global Public Procurement Markets, Robert D. Anderson, Steven L. Schooner, Collin D. Swan
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In December of 2011, the Parties to the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) adopted significant revisions to the Agreement. The revised Agreement comprises (a) a much-needed modernization of the text of the Agreement, (b) an expansion of related market-access commitments by the Parties, and (c) a set of Future Work Programs intended to enhance transparency among the Parties and improve the administration of the Agreement. In these unstable economic times, the importance of the GPA and its improvements cannot be overstated.
This article also bemoans the media's misrepresentation of the ongoing process of China's negotiated accession into the …
Affirmatively Inefficient Jurisprudence?: Confusing Contractors’ Rights To Raise Affirmative Defenses With Sovereign Immunity, Steven L. Schooner, Pamela Kovacs
Affirmatively Inefficient Jurisprudence?: Confusing Contractors’ Rights To Raise Affirmative Defenses With Sovereign Immunity, Steven L. Schooner, Pamela Kovacs
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In M. Maropakis Carpentry v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upset the commonly understood rules of practice and procedure for government contracts dispute litigation. In what the Supreme Court might view as a drive-by jurisdictional ruling, the court held that a contractor must file its own claim for time extensions before it can defend against a government claim for liquidated damages. Two Court of Federal Claims cases then confirmed fears that the decision would create a significant, disruptive, and disadvantageous change in procedural posture for a large number of contractors defending against government …
Venture Capital Investment And Small Business Affiliation Rules: Why A Limited Exception Is Crucial To Economic Recovery Efforts, Jessica Tillipman, Damian Specht
Venture Capital Investment And Small Business Affiliation Rules: Why A Limited Exception Is Crucial To Economic Recovery Efforts, Jessica Tillipman, Damian Specht
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Small businesses and venture capital are a natural pair. While many small businesses are born of technical expertise and innovation, few are well financed. One of the reasons for this lack of financing is that small concerns are often viewed as risky investments. Small businesses are rarely led by experienced business people and, as many statistics demonstrate, are more likely than not to fail. Unlike their under financed counterparts, venture capital companies (“VCCs”) are well financed and what they lack in technical capability, they make up for in business acumen and financial wherewithal. Moreover, risky investments with large upsides are …
A Random Walk: The Federal Circuit’S 2010 Government Contracts Decisions, Steven L. Schooner
A Random Walk: The Federal Circuit’S 2010 Government Contracts Decisions, Steven L. Schooner
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This Article discusses the Federal Circuit's 2010 government contracts cases. It begins with some perspective on, and empirical quantification of, the Federal Circuit’s level of specialization and evolving jurisprudence in the field of government contracts. It eventually turns to analysis of a hodge-podge of unrelated cases: three award controversies (or bid protests), a handful of post award performance disputes, a few selections from the ongoing behemoths of litigation in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims - Winstar and Spent Nuclear Fuel, and a potentially analogous implied warranty case. Overall, the article suggests that the Federal Circuit's 2010 government contracts cases …
A Versatile Prism: Assessing Procurement Law Through The Principal-Agent Model, Christopher R. Yukins
A Versatile Prism: Assessing Procurement Law Through The Principal-Agent Model, Christopher R. Yukins
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Over the past several decades, the federal procurement system in the United States has grown remarkably, and now totals over $500 billion annually.
Over that same period, the rules governing federal procurement have been buffeted by broad efforts at reform. At no point, however, have we ever had an overarching theory - a model or prism - through which to assess the procurement system or its reform. Agency theory provides one such theoretical model. Long established in economics and the other social sciences, the principal-agent model (agency theory) provides a model to explain successes (and failures) in organizational structures, and …
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2009), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2009), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2009), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2010 in U.S. federal procurement. In large part, the paper focuses upon the challenges inherited by the Obama administration and its efforts during its first year in office. Among other things, the paper suggests that the administration charted a course of what it perceived as bold action – most dramatically, touting "savings" and accountability, while permitting special interests to distract focus from value for money and customer satisfaction. Accordingly, at least to date, the Obama administration's procurement …
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2008), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2008), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2008), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2009 in U.S. federal procurement. In large part, the paper focuses upon the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration, which faces a number of interrelated, critical, systemic challenges that pervade the acquisition landscape. Federal procurement spending has exploded in this decade. As a result - and, in addition to decisions made during the 1990's - the Government is heavily outsourced, dependent upon contractors to an extent - in degree and in type - that makes many uncomfortable. …
The European Defense Procurement Directive: An American Perspective, Christopher R. Yukins
The European Defense Procurement Directive: An American Perspective, Christopher R. Yukins
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
On August 21, the new European directive on defense and security procurement, Directive 2009/81/EC, entered into force. See, e.g.,EU Adopts New Defense and Security Procurement Directive, 6 IGC ¶ 65. Previously, most European defense procurement was considered exempt from the European procurement directives that have harmonized procurement, with greater transparency and competition, across Europe. Under the new defense directive, all but the most sensitive defense and security procurements in Europe will have to be conducted under rules consistent with the new directive.
From an American vantage point, however, it is not yet clear how the new directive will be implemented. …
Constructing A Bid Protest Process: Choices Every Procurement Challenge System Must Make, Daniel I. Gordon
Constructing A Bid Protest Process: Choices Every Procurement Challenge System Must Make, Daniel I. Gordon
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Many public procurement systems, within the United States and abroad, have established systems for allowing vendors to challenge the conduct of procurement processes. Providing an effective domestic review mechanism for vendors who believe that government procurement officials have not conducted an acquisition lawfully brings an important measure of transparency and accountability to public procurement systems. This brief article discusses the goals of these bid protest systems, and then presents key choices that must be made in crafting such a system. For example: Where in the government is the protest forum located? How broad is the forum's jurisdiction? Who has standing …
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2005), Steven L. Schooner, Christopher R. Yukins
Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2005), Steven L. Schooner, Christopher R. Yukins
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2005), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2006 in U.S. federal procurement. In an effort to make sense of the current reforms, the paper focuses upon what seems to be the common imperative underlying the various initiatives: the need to bring order to a procurement function as it devolves away from the Government user - what some might call the "devolution" or "outsourcing" of the contracting function. The paper also addresses emerging issues including, among others, the death of competitive sourcing; the acquisition workforce …
The Breakdown Of The United States Government Purchase Card Program And Proposals For Reform, Jessica Tillipman
The Breakdown Of The United States Government Purchase Card Program And Proposals For Reform, Jessica Tillipman
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The Government Purchase Card Program introduced purchase cards to streamline the acquisition of items and services under $2,500. Purchase cards have proved to be extremely efficient, with some estimates putting the savings for the Government at $75 per transaction. Unfortunately, the Government has failed to maintain effective controls over cardholders and this has led to systemic abuse, preventing the Government from realizing the full potential of the purchase card program.
There are three main problems with the current scheme. First, cardholders are ignoring internal controls, resulting in purchases that supervisors cannot verify as consistent with procurement regulations. Second, the proliferation …
A Modest Proposal To Enhance Civil/Military Integration: Rethinking The Renegotiation Regime As A Regulatory Mechanism To Decriminalize Cost, Pricing, And Profit Policy, William E. Kovacic, Steven L. Schooner
A Modest Proposal To Enhance Civil/Military Integration: Rethinking The Renegotiation Regime As A Regulatory Mechanism To Decriminalize Cost, Pricing, And Profit Policy, William E. Kovacic, Steven L. Schooner
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Neither Congress, the procuring agencies, the media, nor the public will condone government contractors reaping what are perceived as excessive profits. Accordingly, the procurement process employs an unduly complex, burdensome, risk-laden, and ineffective mechanism that erects significant barriers to civil/military integration. This paper (presented at the 1999 Defense Systems Management College (DSMC) Acquisition Research Symposium) examines certain policy implications associated with the Truth In Negotiations Act (TINA), the existing audit regime, and the use of criminal and civil anti-fraud measures to scrutinize deviations from these complex cost, pricing, and profit policies and controls. It re-visits the long-extinct Renegotiation Act and …
The Ftca Discretionary Function Exception And Accounting Malpractice, Steven L. Schooner
The Ftca Discretionary Function Exception And Accounting Malpractice, Steven L. Schooner
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
These two short pieces discuss General Dynamics Corp. v. United States, in which the Ninth Circuit reversed what appeared to be the first successful use of the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) by a government contractor to pursue a professional malpractice claim against a federal agency, awarding more than $25 million in damages due to professional malpractice committed by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). The latter piece: (1) briefly summarizes the history of the case, explaining how a routine contractual compliance audit lead to a $25 million malpractice award; (2) introduces the discretionary function exception to the FTCA; (3) …