We have experience in assisting our clients with all aspects of Government contracting, including proposals, bid protests, filing claims and all the way through contract performance.
Government Contracts
The Garden Law Firm has a wide breadth of experience in all aspects of government contracting, from proposal writing through contract administration and conclusion. We assist clients in obtaining contract awards or defending decisions to award contracts to them. We also assist our clients in understanding the often overwhelming morass of rules and processes that pertain to performing under a government contract. This includes environmental laws, cost accounting issues and safety and health regulations. When required, we provide legal advice and representation in bringing claims to ensure our clients receive the full compensation they are entitled to under their contracts. During his extensive practice, Mr. Garden has been involved in obtaining over $20,000,000 in settlements and awards for clients from the federal government. Mr. Garden has also helped his clients obtain government contracts with revenues totaling over $600,000,000.
Our assistance involves working directly with agency staff to resolve issues and reach solutions, working with members of Congress to educate them as to the issues faced by our clients and handling formal claims in the various forums which are available to contractors.
We have been involved with a wide variety of industries which operate under government contracts, including computer services, food services, equipment sales, surplus government parts and concessions. Our location in the Washington, DC area puts us at the heart of the key decisionmakers and arbiters relevant to your government contract.
Bid Protests
When you have worked hard and invested a lot of resources to prepare a thorough proposal for a government contract, you have a right to have the government give your proposal a fair evaluation.
And if it does not, you have the right to seek a review of the evaluation.
We have filed numerous successful bid protests on behalf of clients whose proposals were not fairly evaluated.
There are several important decisions leading up to filing a bid protest. The first is assessing the strength of your case. The second is selecting the right place to file your protest. In addition, there are various critical deadlines that may apply to a bid protest, depending on the nature of the protest and where you want to file it.
We have extensive experience in helping you make the best decision for your particular situation.
Case Experience
We have been involved in agency level appeals and protests involving a wide range of federal agencies and industries, ranging from protests involving the National Aeronautical and Space Administration which pertained to a computer services procurement as well as a contract for aircraft and flight simulator maintenance and technical support services, equipment and service contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, food service contracts with the Defense Logistics Agency, hazardous waste removal contracts with the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service and protests involving National Park Service and US Forest Service concession authorizations.
A brief discussion of some of the cases we have been involved in will give you a sense of our experience in this area. In Blue & Gold Fleet, LP v. United States, 70 Fed. Cl. 487 (2006), we assisted a client who was awarded the concession contract by the National Park Service for ferry service to Alcatraz Island. Because our client was the awardee, we had to file to intervene in the case to provide assistance to the government to ensure that the selection decision was not overturned. We coordinated our participation with the government in order to make sure that all issues were properly addressed. After we prevailed in the protest, the protester then filed an appeal in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and we also participated in that process with a successful outcome for our client. Blue & Gold Fleet, LP v. United States, 492 F.3d 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
We also represented a guide who submitted a proposal for operations in Grand Teton National Park but who was not selected for award. Eco Tour Adventures, Inc. v. United States, 14 Fed. Cl. 6 (2013). In that case, the court ruled that the National Park Service violated the law in its treatment of the proposals from the other offerors by failing to make determinations with a rational basis which prejudiced our client. Because this conduct was a violation of the agency’s implied contract with our client to fairly and honestly consider its proposal, the agency agreed to compensate our client for its costs in preparing its proposal, as well as compensating it for its attorneys fees.
On behalf of our clients, we appear before the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Government Accountability Office and government agencies which have internal appeal processes.