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Jay Carey

Recognized by Chambers as one of the nation’s top bid protest lawyers and government contracts practitioners, Jay Carey represents clients in complex, high-stakes government procurements often worth billions of dollars. He is a vice-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts practice group and a co-chair of the Aerospace, Defense, and National Security industry group.

Jay has won bid protests collectively worth more than $100 billion, for clients across a range of industries — including aerospace & defense, energy, healthcare, biotechnology, cybersecurity, IT, and telecommunications. He litigates protests before the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); the Court of Federal Claims (COFC); and state tribunals across the country. A list of his recent wins can be found under the “Representative Matters” tab.

In addition, Jay advises clients on compliance matters, conducts internal investigations, and defends against investigations by federal and state agencies. He also counsels clients on matters related to the formation of government contracts, including organizational conflicts of interest and the protection of intellectual property rights when entering into procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and “Other Transaction Authority” agreements with the government.

Jay serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association Public Contract Law Section’s Bid Protest Committee.

Contact:Read more about Jay CareyEmail

If your company delivers technical data to the Department of Defense, you should take a close look at the Federal Circuit’s decision issued yesterday in The Boeing Co. v. Secretary of the Air Force.

The Court acknowledged that contractors may retain ownership and other interests in unlimited rights data, and it held that they may take steps to put third parties on notice of those rights.  In particular, the Court held that, in addition to the standard legends required by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”), contractors may also include a legend notifying third parties of the contractor’s retained rights.Continue Reading Technically Still Yours: Court Holds that Contractors May Mark Unlimited Rights Data with a Proprietary Legend

Many government contractors are familiar with the well-established processes of federal bid protests.  Less known is the dizzying variety of procedures applicable to state and local bid protests, and a rule that is well-established in one jurisdiction may be nonexistent in another.  Although there are some unifying themes that pervade protest practice everywhere — namely,…

The government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic implicates a host of authorities of interest to contractors, from those under the Stafford Act to its recently invoked Defense Production Act powers.  The government has another critical, and perhaps under-examined, set of tools at its disposal to meet the demands of the pandemic:  FAR Part 18, “Emergency Acquisitions,” catalogues authorities that give the government greater ability to acquire goods in a streamlined, accelerated manner.  Contractors should take note of FAR Part 18 given the government’s urgent needs for COVID-19 related supplies and services.
Continue Reading Emergency Contracting During COVID-19: A Guide to FAR Part 18

As a result of novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and COVID-19, federal and state governments have a sudden and unanticipated need for more goods and services.  Some of those goods and services are highly specialized and specific to Coronavirus and COVID-19.  But governments also have an increased and urgent need to buy otherwise-routine goods and services that have become newly critical in the wake of COVID-19.

All of this means that there are and will be procurements where speed is the priority, and where there is no time for the normal pace and cadence of the procurement process and contract formation.  It also means that resources necessarily will get taken away from routine procurement tasks and reallocated to urgent matters.

Here are a few things to watch for:Continue Reading The Likely Effects of COVID-19 on Contract Awards and Contract Formation

As previously discussed on this blog, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 and the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2018 imposed new limitations on when the Department of Defense can use Lowest Price Technically Acceptable source selection methods.  Just last month, the Department of Defense issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to implement those provisions.  Now, in Inserso Corp., B-417791, B-417791.3, Nov. 4, 2019, GAO has weighed in on what counts as LPTA for purposes of those restrictions.  This decision may indicate a potentially significant limitation on the reach of the NDAA provisions, new DFARS rule, and proposed FAR rule.
Continue Reading What Is Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable? GAO Clarifies Reach of New LPTA Restrictions

Tight deadlines are a fact of life in the world of government contracting.  Indeed, it is not unusual for the government to expect a contractor to provide large amounts of information in just a few short days.  And the draconian penalty for missing such a deadline is usually the rejection of a proposal.

But can an agency’s deadline be unreasonably short?  Yes.  In MCR Federal, LLC, GAO determined that the agency’s deadline for submitting its final proposal revision (“FPR”) was so short that it deprived the protester of a fair opportunity to improve its proposal.Continue Reading Not So Fast Guy: Recent GAO Decision Provides Rule For When Agency Deadlines Are Unreasonably Short

GAO released its Fiscal Year 2019 protest statistics yesterday, and there are both noticeable changes and relative constants:

  • Protest filings are down by 16%, which means about 400 fewer protests than FY18.  The reason why is anyone’s guess, but it’s likely related in large part to GAO’s new Electronic Protest Docketing System — and associated

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Federal contractors usually think of two bid protest forums: the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  But another protest forum often flies under the radar: the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition — aka the ODRA.

In a continuation of our blog post earlier this year, we take…

The House of Representatives passed its version of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) last week.  The headline story was the remarkably close, party-line vote: in contrast to past years, the bill received no Republican votes, and eight Democratic Members voted against it.

Those partisan dynamics obscured the inclusion of two important amendments – one Republican and one Democratic – regarding bid protest policy that the House quietly adopted in its bill.  The provisions are not yet law, since the House and Senate must still resolve differences in their respective NDAAs through the conference process.  In this post, we summarize these provisions and encourage government contractors to watch them closely in the coming months.
Continue Reading House and Senate Will Debate Bid Protest Policy

Federal contractors usually think of two bid protest forums: the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims.  But there is another protest forum that often flies under the radar: the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition — aka the ODRA.

The ODRA has exclusive jurisdiction over bid protests of FAA procurements.  ODRA protests are reviewed under the Administrative Procedure Act, adjudicated by one of the ODRA’s Administrative Judges, and subject to direct appeal to a federal circuit court.  While many of the fundamental principles of bid protest practice at GAO and the Court of Federal Claims apply equally at the ODRA, there are several unique features.
Continue Reading Flying in Friendly Skies: The Federal Aviation Administration’s Unique Bid Protest Forum