Socio-Economic Programs & Domestic Preferences

Our Work

Small and small disadvantaged businesses

• Advise companies on SBA’s small size standards and criteria to be a women-owned small business (WOSB), small disadvantaged business (SDB), service disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVO SBC), HUBzone business, or 8(a) concern. This frequently requires assessing “affiliation” under SBA regulations and OHA cases.
• Counsel large and small businesses how to team through joint ventures and mentor-protégé agreements.
• Prosecute and defend small size status protests.
• Defend companies accused of misrepresenting small size status – including in whistleblower suits.
• Representative engagements:
  • Pioneered joint venture agreements with 8(a) mentors and protégés that led to SBA revising its regulations
  • Negotiated mentor-protégé agreements and joint venture agreements for numerous large and small businesses
  • Defended multiple small businesses against claims of affiliation with companies owned by close family members.

Labor and employment (EO/AA, SCA, etc.)

• Advised over 100 clients on the labor and employment rules that apply on government contracts – including equal opportunity, affirmative action, e-Verify, combatting human trafficking, minimum wage, and “revolving door”.
• Guide clients through rules under the Davis-Bacon Act, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, and related statutes – and bring claims to recover costs when wage determinations (WDs) and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) increase wages and benefits.
• Prepare employment agreements for workers subject to Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs).
• Representative engagements:
  • At overseas Navy base, submitted millions of dollars of claims for increased wage costs following wage increases mandated by Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
  • Defended first-ever False Claims Act whistleblower case involving allegations that contractor personnel at US Embassy in Kabul violated the prohibition on human trafficking.
  • Assisted FFRDC to deploy overseas for the first time employees subject to NATO SOFA.

Domestic preferences

• Advise clients on all aspects of the Buy American Act (BAA), Trade Agreements Act (TAA), Berry Amendment, Buy America Act (applies to transportation projects), and other preferences.
• Assess where products are “manufactured” and “substantially transformed.”
• Develop and implement robust compliance measures so that domestic preference requirements are taken into account before changes are made to the supply chain.
• Investigate and, when necessary, resolve non-compliance – including matters raised in whistleblower suits.
• In connection with foreign military sales (FMS), analyze whether items meet FMS funding requirements and permissible use of in-country reps and develop strategies for complying with FMS rules.
• Representative engagements:
  • Developed and implemented Buy American Act/Trade Agreements Act compliance program for $20B global laboratory products manufacturer.
  • Top-to-bottom assessment of country-of-origin compliance program for one of largest transit systems in the US with hundreds of millions annually in Federal funds, and development and implementation of program enhancements.
  • For multiple electronic equipment manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, assessed country-of-origin of end items, APIs, and components under all domestic preference regimes.