The United States federal government awards more than a trillion dollars in contracts and grants on an annual basis for products, services, constructions projects, and research and development initiatives. While this marketplace is one of the largest in the world, selling to the federal government as a prime contractor or in the subcontracting supply chain often comes with regulatory strings attached that can be difficult to navigate.

Hunton’s multidisciplinary government contracts team brings together highly experienced regulatory, litigation, and corporate lawyers to provide comprehensive, practical solutions for businesses in the government contracting marketplace. We counsel companies across a broad array of industries, represent litigants before the US Court of Federal Claims, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Small Business Administration, a variety of federal agencies, and the Boards of Contract Appeals, and provide corporate and transactional advice.

Services Provided

Counseling Services

• Reviewing solicitations and prime contract agreements with the federal government to help businesses understand their regulatory requirements and providing compliance advice.
• Drafting and reviewing Non-Disclosure Agreements, Teaming Agreements and Subcontract Agreements.
• Advising on compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulatory Supplement and various other agency regulatory clauses.
• Creating and reviewing ethics and compliance programs, and mandatory disclosure requirements.

Contracts-Specific Regulatory Compliance

• Cybersecurity, including incident response requirements and certification regimes, as well as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and FedRAMP.
• Labor and employment requirements, including the Service Contract Labor Standards (formerly known as the Service Contract Act), the David-Bacon Act (covering federal construction projects), and minimum wage and sick leave regulations.
• Domestic preference frameworks, including the Buy American Act, the Trade Agreements Act, the Build America Buy America Act, the Make PPE in America Act, and international risk areas including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Nation-state based supply chain requirements, including the partial ban on technology from certain Chinese and Russian companies.
• Small business set-aside programs and affiliation issues.
• Emerging issues, including compliance with the Defense Production Act, advice connected with offensive and defensive cybersecurity weapons, recent Executive Orders, helium shortages, and others.

Litigation Services

• Filing and intervening in bid protests at the Court of Federal Claims and GAO, as well as before various federal agencies.
• Filing and prosecuting claims and disputes before the Boards of Contract Appeals and the Court of Federal Claims.
• Litigating disputes between contractors under federal contracts in various state and federal courts.
• Conducting internal investigations and defending cases brought under the False Claims Act by whistleblowers and federal government agencies.
• Defending contractors and individuals subject to FAR-based suspension and debarment efforts, and responding to agency inquiries and show cause notices.
• Filing and defending size protests before the Small Business Administration, including the Office of Hearing and Appeals.
• Evaluating and litigating cases under the Administrative Procedures Act.

Corporate Services

• Advising on the full range of corporate transactions including teaming agreements, joint ventures, subcontract arrangements, investments, acquisitions, and divestitures, representing both buyers and sellers of business enterprises.
• Conducting and guiding due diligence for strategic acquisitions in the government contracting marketplace.
• Advising companies and boards of directors connected with corporate governance and other fiduciary duty matters.

Hunton’s government contracts team has been engaged in the following work while at Hunton and previous law firms:

• Represented multinational Fortune 100 manufacturing conglomerate to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Guided and executed cybersecurity incident response plans for defense contractors compliant with DFARS 252.204-7012 and obtained favorable investigative outcomes after notifying the US Department of Defense.
• Obtained a finding, following a protest of a $4 billion program for the sourcing and distribution of medical supplies for VA medical facilities, that the US Department of Veterans Affairs acted unlawfully when restructuring the program.
• Awarded summary judgment against a prime contractor in favor of a subcontractor in federal court following the prime contractor’s failure to pay open invoices and instead used the funds for personal expenses.
• Won a $3.3 million verdict after trial for a government subcontractor against a large prime contractor.
• Won a jury trial, including punitive damages, on behalf of a government contractor in a case involving the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act venued at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
• Advised a Fortune 100 company with respect to compliance issues under the Defense Production Act.
• Following the conviction of a contractor and its founder, successfully avoided a permanent debarment of the company by the US Department of Defense.
• After trial before the US Department of Labor, obtained a verdict in favor of the contractor that it did not violate the Service Contract Act, avoiding substantial back wages and a potential debarment.
• Guided numerous clients through mandatory disclosure obligations and representation before various federal agencies.
• Successfully prosecuted numerous pre-award and post-award bid protests at the Court of Federal Claims, GAO, and federal agencies, including a $190 million contract award protested at GAO and at the Court of Federal Claims after a prior adverse finding at GAO.
• Represented one of the largest private, founder-owned and operated technology and services integrator in the aerospace, defense, and government services industry in multiple acquisitions and joint ventures.
• Represented a NYSE-listed administrator of government health and human services programs with global operations in multiple transactions, including its $1.4 billion acquisition of a provider of medical disability examinations to the US Department of Veterans affairs and its $400 million acquisition of assets from a NYSE-listed aerospace and defense company.
• Represented a US Department of Defense contractor in multiple joint ventures, including its joint venture with an IT consulting firm providing custom software development, system engineering, and mission operations support to a variety of customers in both the public and commercial sectors; and its potential joint venture with a small business providing solutions for data analytics, cyber, and space/mission operations to the intelligence, defense, and space communities of the US government and a small business providing software and system engineering services to the US Department of Defense and other government customers.