Legal Dictionary: Government Contracts Law

DEFINITION

• Government Contracts Law is comprised of all the statutes, cases, rules, regulations and procedures with which any company must comply to do business with the government (federal, state or municipal).

• These rules and regulations apply to virtually every aspect of making, performing and eventually terminating a contract with a government agency or department.

• The set of laws and regulations that cover government contracts is immense, complex and constantly changing. While the laws and rules may be complicated, many of the government's contracting regulations are designed to prevent favoritism and to force the government's contracting officer to give all bidders fair access to be awarded a contract with the government.

• The rules are also intended to protect taxpayers by making sure that the government gets the lowest price for goods and services from the private sector, thus making certain that the contract is fair to taxpayers.

FIND A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS ATTORNEY IN YOUR AREA.

Learn more about CONTRACTS AND THE LAW.

OTHER BUZZWORDS

• Appropriation
• Bid Protests
• Comptroller General
• Federal Acquisitions Regulations
• General Accounting Office

For more definitions, visit the FindLaw Legal Dictionary.

PRACTICE AREA NOTES

• When a business sells goods or services to a government agency, the government always has the home-court advantage, since the government's own peculiar laws and rules apply to the contract. Despite this advantage, many small and large businesses have done extremely well selling to the government year after year, usually guided by a lawyer who has specific experience helping clients sell successfully to the government.

RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

Business & Commercial Law
State, Local and Municipal Law
Administrative Law