“Rule of Two” Cheat Sheet
Over the past five years, protest decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Government Accountability Office have created some bright-line rules interpreting the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006’s “Rule of Two.” After a brief summary of the Rule of Two, this article lays out these bright-line rules, and concludes with predictions regarding future Rule of Two protests.
June 2021 marked the five-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kingdomware decision, which is best known for broadly interpreting the so-called “Rule of Two” requirement flowing from the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006 (the “VBA”). The Rule has been criticized for delaying Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) procurements and increasing the prices the government pays for goods and services. However, the importance of the Rule’s purpose—to prioritize and increase the government’s use of small businesses owned by veterans—cannot be credibly challenged.
Over the past five years, protest decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) have created some bright-line rules interpreting the VBA’s Rule of Two. After a brief summary of the Rule of Two, this article lays out these bright-line rules, and concludes with predictions regarding future VBA Rule of Two protests.
To read the full article, please click here.
“’Rule of Two’ Cheat Sheet,” by Merle M. DeLancey Jr. was published in the November 2021 edition of Pratt’s Government Contracting Law Report (Vol. 7, No. 11), an A.S. Pratt Publication, LexisNexis. Reprinted with permission.
This article was first published in Blank Rome's Government Contracts Navigator blog in July 2021.