Practices:

• Compliance and Investigations
• Corporate
• Economic Stimulus
• Environment, Energy & Product Regulation
• Global Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships
• Government Contracts
  • Bid Protests
  • Claims and Terminations
  • Commercial Products and Services
  • Compliance and Investigations
  • Construction
  • Corporate
  • Cost Accounting
  • Expeditionary, Stability and Reconstruction Contracting
  • Export Regulation
  • GSA Schedule Contracting
  • Health Care
  • International Government Contracts
  • IP Rights and Technical Data
  • Life Sciences and Public Health Preparedness
  • National Security Clearance
  • Pharmaceutical Compliance
  • Procurement Fraud
  • Service Contracting
  • Small Business/Socio Economic Issues
  • State and Local Government Contracts
  • Suspension and Debarment
• Intellectual Property and Technology
• International
• Labor and Employment
• Litigation
• Military Bases and Communities
• Political Law
• Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs
• Real Estate
• Supply Chain Management
• Tax

Government Contracts

For more than 50 years, McKenna Long & Aldridge (MLA) has been home to the largest and most successful Government Contract practice in the country. Starting in 1958, when Gil Cuneo "the Godfather of Government Contracts," joined the predecessor firm, Sellers, Conner & Cuneo, MLA has dominated this field of practice and today maintains its preeminent position as the leader in the field. 

Today, MLA is recognized by Chambers USA as a “tier one” Government Contracts law firm, “a true titan of the field…(with) a breadth of expertise and heritage unsurpassed in the public procurement sector.” As the first government contracts practice in the U.S., MLA has been a leader in the contracting and procurement legal field from the post-Korean War ‘Profit Renegotiation Boards’ to the current mandatory disclosure requirements; from the original Agent Orange litigation to the current anthrax bio-defense procurements; and from the base service contractor disputes in Vietnam to the representation of the largest stability operations contractors in Iraq.

Clients choose MLA for the breadth and depth of its experience, and its long history of achieving clients’ objectives even in the most complex and difficult circumstances at a cost recognized as bringing true value. Our experience covers every aspect of Government Contracting, all government agencies and all key industry sectors — aerospace and defense, electronics, communications, IT, technical services, financial, stability operations, construction, transportation, health care, biodefense, and the life science fields. MLA operates at the intersection of business and government while producing solutions using creative and flexible strategies that ensure success. We are proud to represent the top 5, and 10 of the top 15 largest defense contractors, based on total contracting dollars in 2008. 

MLA’s Government Contract team consists of more than 70 attorneys and professional advisors throughout its offices in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, New York, and San Diego — including former members of key Government procuring agencies, the Justice Department, Congress and its committees.  No other practice has such depth and geographic coverage.  The Government Contract team knows how Congress thinks, and understands how Washington works.  The team brings industry perspective, experience, and creative problem solving to Government Contract issues.

MLA has litigated more than 700 government contract related cases in the past two decades, including:  nearly 100 Civil False Claims Act cases, two of which have been the subject of Supreme Court decisions; the two largest default terminations in history; and dozens of product liability cases that have presented “Political Question” and State Secret issues.  The firm’s breadth of practice in this area is reflected in its  spearheading of important legislative initiatives including the Safety Act and BioShield related laws and its guidance of numerous young companies to their first receipt of a government contract.

No matter what the client’s needs are — from an equitable adjustment claim, to a civil or criminal fraud allegation, to a change in legislation that enables participation in the government contracting business, MLA offers the experience to achieve a successful outcome.