Bid Protest Successful Where Agency Failed to Document “Best-Value Tradeoff Analysis”
A government contractor wins its post-award protest where the agency failed to adequately document its “best value” analysis. This is the latest of a string of recent successful bid protests wherein the government loses on the basis of poor documentation. ...
Contractor Wins Bid Protest by Arguing that “Class Waiver” of Customary Commercial Practices was Irrationally Applied
Two large food distributors interested in competing for a $9.3 million contract to supply food to military and civilian customers in Texas and New Mexico win their pre-award bid protest against the Army’s Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support. They successfully argued...
Solicitations Cannot Have Terms Contrary to Those Used in Customary Commercial Practices
In this pre-award bid protest, the General Service Administration (“GAO”) sought offers from contractors to provide various federal agencies with web-based travel management services. One contractor, CW Government Travel, Inc. (“CW”) protested the solicitation because it required the contractors to...
Contract Awarded to Company for More than Twice the Price of a Competitor is Still “Best Value”
In this post-award bid protest case, a task order from the Department of Labor seeking quotations for the maintenance and operation of its Integrated Management Information System drew three contractors. The winner, Microtechnologies, LLC, bid almost $40 million. A rival,...
Terminating an Employee for Her Refusal to Have an Abortion Does not Contravene Virginia’s Public Policy
While Virginia strongly adheres to the employment-at-will doctrine, many employers have worried that the Virginia Supreme Court’s recognition of a public policy exception to this doctrine would make employers vulnerable to a host of wrongful discharge claims. However, a Federal...
Agency’s Use of Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) was Rational
In this post-award bid protest case, a contractor who offered the government a very low price on a government contract failed to win the award. It complained that the Agency improperly used an inadequate Independent Government Cost Estimate (“ICGE”) to...
Answer to the Employment Law Question for September 2012
As a recent lawsuit shows, an employer can generally discipline an at-will employee for such conduct, and may even bring legal action against him or her. (Employment at will is the default and most common employment relationship, allowing termination for any reason...
Can One Get Fired for “Liking” a Competitor’s Facebook Page?
The legal implications that social media has on employees and employers is a still-evolving concept; however, courts are increasingly hearing more cases where employers may land themselves in hot water for making employment decisions based on an employee’s internet postings. ...
Fourth Circuit Rules that an Employee Taking and Misusing Confidential Computer Data Does Not Violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In a recent decision that the court acknowledged would disappoint employers hoping to rein in rogue employees, the Fourth Circuit refused to apply the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) to workers who access computers or information in bad...