Government Contracts Commons^™

Rethinking The World Bank’S Sanctions System, Christopher R. Yukins

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The World Bank is reviewing its system for suspending and debarring contractors (known formally as the World Bank sanctions system). The system is used to suspend and debar contractors that have engaged in fraud or corruption (and other enumerated bad acts) related to Bank-financed projects. After reviewing the sanctions process, and identifying what appear to be the Bank’s current goals in its sanctions system (stemming reputational and fiduciary risks), the article recommends that the World Bank defer finalizing any reforms until it concludes its assessment of first principles, and has at hand all the data necessary to assess the sanctions …

The Contract Management Body Of Knowledge: Understanding An Essential Tool For The Acquisition Profession, Neal J. Couture, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The collective knowledge of any profession is commonly referred to as its body of knowledge. In the acquisition, procurement, or government contracting profession, the collective wisdom of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) organizes, and periodically updates, a broadly accepted conceptual inventory of the profession’s acquired knowledge. This article describes the NCMA Guide to the Body of Knowledge, how it was developed and is maintained, and its importance and relevance to people concerned with the contract management profession.

Leasing Sovereignty: On State Infrastructure Contracts, Matthew Titolo

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Progress In Self-Determination: Navigating Funding For Isda Contracts After Salazar V. Ramah Navajo Chapter, Steven L. Mangold

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Globalizing Social Finance: How Social Impact Bonds And Social Impact Performance Guarantees Can Scale Development, Deborah Burand

Articles

While the SIB structure is still in its infancy, there is momentum building to globalize this social finance innovation so that it can help scale development goals around the world. Taking the SIB global is not a simple matter, however. This article explores several of the more challenging issues that are likely to arise in applying a SIB or elements of the SIB structure to social problems and development goals in developing countries. The article begins with a summary review of the goals and structures used in the two earliest SIBs. It then discusses key challenges and opportunities that SIBs …

The Congressional War On Contractors, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The U.S. Suspension & Debarment regime is designed to ensure that the federal government does business only with “responsible” partners. One of the most fundamentally (and frequently) misunderstood aspects of the FAR 9.4 suspension & debarment system is that these tools are only to be used for the purpose of protecting the Government, not to punish contractors for their past misconduct. Unfortunately, recent congressional initiatives demonstrate many legislators’ desire to transform debarment into a tool of punishment by banishing contractors from the procurement system “with little consideration of whether such action is needed or fair."

Instead of focusing on the …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2012), 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 2012), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2013 in U.S. federal procurement. Budgetary and financial insecurity emerge as the most significant emerging issues in government contracting. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement spending trend and attempts to predict what lies ahead. Among other things, it discusses the pending sequestration, procurement spending rates, agency purchasing data (particularly at the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State and the Agency for International Development), grants spending, …

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 …

Bid Protests: The Costs Are Real, But The Benefits Outweigh Them, Daniel I. Gordon

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The author analyzes the costs and benefits of bid protests, with a focus on protests filed at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The author explains that the costs are often overstated, in that GAO’s reporting methodology leads observers to overstate the number of protests and the frequency of successful protests. The author also reports on research regarding what happens after GAO sustains protests, and indicates that firms that successfully protest to GAO generally do not obtain the contract that was the subject of the protest. The article also explains that the “automatic stay” of procurements triggered by a protest to …

Feature Comment: Considering The Effects Of Public Procurement Regulations On Competitive Markets, Christopher R. Yukins, Jose A. Cora

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Professor Albert Sanchez Graells of the University of Hull (UK) recently published a vitally important book on procurement law, Public Procurement and the EU Competition Rules (Hart Publishing 2011). In his study, Sanchez Graells asked what seems like a simple question: Shouldn’t regulators, when writing procurement regulations, consider the likely impact of those regulations on competitive markets? Sanchez Graells pointed out that far too little attention has been paid to the anticompetitive impact of public procurement regulation. This article assesses Sanchez Graells’ thesis from a U.S. perspective. In many ways the U.S. federal procurement system stands at one end of …

Contracts Written In Stone: An Examination Of United States V. Winstar Corp., Mark T. Cramer

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Learning From Brazil And India: The Difference That Inclusion Policies Can Make, Bernd Reiter

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Perverts," "Terrorists," And Business As Usual: Fantasies And Genealogies Of U.S. Law, Penelope Pether

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Agenda: A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint For The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, Western Resource Advocates, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)

A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint for the American West (Martz Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The future of the planet may depend upon our ability to increase energy supplies even as we reduce carbon emissions. This conference will address how a low-carbon energy program might evolve with a particular focus on the American West. It will focus on the future of energy in the West--on a “managed transition” to a different energy mix, on the need to nest this effort in a framework that acknowledges interconnections, and on identifying the most salient opportunities to consider the legal, political, financial, and technical challenges.

The Four Into One Platform: New Reform Initiatives Compound China's Dissected Public Procurement Governance, Daniel J. Mitterhoff

Faculty Scholarship

For over ten years now, supervision and implementation of public purchasing activities in China has largely been divided among government agencies that jealously guard their share of their regulatory pie and covet the regulatory province of other agencies. Yet vested interests are now on the defensive, as a reform process seeks to collapse the segregated regulatory regimes into a more centralized governance structure. The idea is to combine construction tendering and bidding, government procurement, public land-use auctions and public asset exchanges under one management structure called the “Public Resources Exchange Center.” Hence, some refer to the reforms as the “four …

Government Procurement Law Perspectives: Spring 2012, Government Procurement Law Program

Government Procurement Law Perspectives

No abstract provided.

The Assault Of Jamie Leigh Jones: How One Woman's Horror Story Is Changing Arbitration In America, Jeffrey Adams

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article examines Jones v. Halliburton Co., the "Al Franken Amendment" to the 2010 U.S. Defense Department Budget (Franken Amendment) that was created in response to Jones, and the impact that both could have on mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts in the future. Part II recounts the troubling events that led to Jones and the inclusion of the Franken Amendment in the 2010 Defense Department Budget. Part III details the arguments made for and against the inclusion of the Franken Amendment. Part IV analyzes the impact that the Franken Amendment could have on mandatory arbitration clauses in contacts in …

Keeping Score When Bankruptcy Principles And The Federal Anti-Assignment Act Collide: Government Contractors' Options Concerning Executory Contracts, Tanya M. Kiatkulpiboone

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

International Procurement, Howard A. Wolf-Rodda, Daniel J. Mitterhoff

Faculty Scholarship

This year in review article for 2011 focuses on developments in Chinese procurement law in the realm of socio-economic policies, most notably, policies aimed at (1) enhancing contracting opportunities for China's small and medium business, and (2) preferential treatment of domestically-developed technology products.

Empirical Studies Of Contract, Zev J. Eigen

Faculty Working Papers

Since the mid 2000s, a cottage industry has slowly blossomed of empirical research dedicated to advancing accounts of contracts "on the books"--accounting for what contracts tend to purportedly obligate signers to do, and contracts "in action"--accounting for how contracting parties tend to behave. This article reviews this literature, which spans several disciplines, most notably law, economics, and management, identifying eight categories of empirical questions in common across all disciplines, highlighting key findings, points of consensus, and noting areas most pressingly in need of additional research.