Eric Leonard, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts practice, was quoted in a Law360 article discussing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ attempt to resolicit Maximus Federal Services Inc.’s deal to insert an LHA clause. While the U.S. Government Accountability Office found the LHA too vague, it determined that the broader concept of requiring an LHA does not violate a Federal Acquisition Regulation requirement. CMS ultimately canceled the resolicitation after Maximus took the dispute to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. 

According to Eric, that has left the statutory issues unresolved, and it's unclear whether any other agency will try to use an LHA requirement in the future. "If there's no Court of Federal Claims case anymore, maybe that [issue] just lays dormant for now," said Eric. "I don't see a lot of agencies following suit with that kind of clause — I'm hoping that's more of a unique set of circumstances that prompted [CMS] to try to put that in, but who knows?"

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