7 Key Risks for Contractors in Transit Procurements
By Michael A. de Gennaro Your company has reviewed an RFP issued by a municipal authority to select a firm to operate and maintain transit services, and the business team has signed off on the economics of submitting a bid. As your company’s counsel, you have been tasked with identifying the legal risks of the procurement, with the aim of identifying the “most important” considerations. In many instances, legal review will be approached as more or less a formality, with . . . Read More
Negotiating the Start Date Provision of Your Office Lease
In negotiating an office lease, business owners should pay particularly close attention to the terms and conditions regarding the start date of their office lease. Many landlords will begin negotiations regarding the start date of an office lease by providing an “estimated” date on which the tenant will be able to move in to the office space, stating that if the actual date on which the space becomes available is different than the estimated date, there will be no penalty . . . Read More
Contracting Globally – Part 2: International Traffic in Arms Regulations
By Kimi Murakami There are two major regimes that govern exports from the United States. One is the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and, second, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) enforced by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”). A recent blog article discussed EAR compliance and this blog will address the requirements of ITAR. Similar to issues relating to EAR discussed in . . . Read More
SBA Announces New WOSB Online Portal
By Josh Humi Recently, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) announced a new online portal to serve women-owned small businesses (“WOSBs”). The new portal allows WOSBs to manage their SBA-related documents, complete SBA application forms online, and receive notices of deadlines. In addition, the new portal supports self-certifications for WOSBs. SBA will be transferring existing repository documents to the new online portal, so WOSBs will not need to re-submit documents which they have already submitted to SBA. Furthermore, SBA is now managing all WOSB requirements through . . . Read More
Negotiating the Landlord Services Provision of Your Office Lease
In negotiating an office lease, business owners should pay particularly close attention to the provisions detailing the services that the landlord will be required to provide and the terms and conditions regarding those services. Business owners often have significant negotiating power with respect to such provisions, and therefore have the potential to custom-fit the services that the landlord will be required to provide to the specific needs of their business. Landlord services that business owners should consider include: Heating and . . . Read More
CFIUS Annual Report Shows Items of Interest for Government Contractors
By Kimi Murakami The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) recently issued its Annual Report to Congress regarding transactions that they reviewed during 2014. Below are highlights of trends and issues gleaned from the report, as well as a few best practices that contractors performing work for the U.S. federal government may find interesting regardless of whether your business may soon be the target of a non-U.S. buyer. What is CFIUS? To guard against foreign investment that . . . Read More
Creativity and Controlled Risk: A Recipe for a Successful M&A Transaction
One prevailing theme in merger and/or acquisition (M&A) transactions is risk allocation. How much risk is either the buyer or seller willing to assume? And, separately, what level of risk must either party assume in order to get the deal done? Assuming neither party has all the negotiating leverage, both parties will need to take on some amount of risk. There is a life adage that says “time heals all wounds.” In M&A transactions, however, the opposite is true; and, . . . Read More
Negotiating the Security Deposit Provision of Your Office Lease
An important provision of an office lease is the security deposit provision. While it is beneficial to a landlord to maximize the size of the security deposit it receives from a tenant in order to ensure the tenant’s faithful performance of the terms of the office lease, transferring a cash security deposit to a landlord has real-world costs to the tenant. These costs include eliminating the potential use of the security deposit cash for other business purposes and putting the . . . Read More
Five Things That Shouldn’t Keep You From Buying or Selling a Company
There may be several reasons holding you back from buying another company or from selling your own business. However, there’s a new normal in the government contracting space. With increased competition for work, a tight economy, and stricter and more costly regulations requiring compliance, strategic acquisitions as a pathway to faster and more significant growth should be part of the long term strategy considerations for government contractors of all sizes. The flip side, of course, is that you may be . . . Read More
“March-in” Rights – The (Paper) Damoclean Sword of Federal Procurement Patent Law
Given the recent PilieroMazza webinar on Data Rights in federal contracting , we have had a number of clients raise concerns or questions about the government’s “march-in” rights under the Bayh-Dole Act, which controls certain data rights and patent issues under federal contracts. For those of you who do not already know, for patentable items created under federally-funded contracts, the government has the right to force the contractor who holds the patent to issue a license to third parties, including competitors, under certain conditions. As we will see, . . . Read More