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Procurement Lawyer Newsletter

The Procurement Lawyer Fall 2024

Chair’s News: Highlighting the Value of the Section, Event Updates

Jason Nicholas Workmaster

Summary

  • Our substantive committees are back in full swing, with many offering hybrid meetings enabling meaningful in-person and virtual participation.
  • The Fall Forum will have a singular focus on federal procurement, and are optimistic to see new faces there.
  • We remain committed to developing and delivering content directed to state and local practitioners.
Chair’s News: Highlighting the Value of the Section, Event Updates
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It is incredible to believe that the 2024-2025 bar year has commenced. My first task as Section Chair is to extend my deepest thanks to the Section’s immediate past chair, Eric Whytsell. Under Eric’s calm and welcoming leadership, the Section continued to offer outstanding educational conferences and networking events at the Fall Educational Conference in New Orleans last November, the Federal Procurement Institute (FPI) in Annapolis in March, and the Annual Meeting in Chicago in August. As always, it was delightful to see so many government contracts attorneys and professionals joining their professional family to learn, network, and simply enjoy one another’s company. Additionally, our substantive committees are back in fullswing, with many offering hybrid meetings enabling meaningful in-person and virtual participation--no more old-fashioned dialups from the conference room phone in the middle of the table! Plus, the Section continued its vital work of providing comments to agencies on proposed regulations that impact our clients daily.

This coming bar year will include preparations to celebrate the Section’s 50th anniversary--building on the long legacy we inherited and recognizing the vastly different world we inhabit today. Over the past several years, the Section’s leadership has been reviewing and revising how we continue to deliver the Section’s timeless mission of being a reliable and respected nationwide source of balanced, unbiased, and positive recommendations for improving the law relating to public procurement at all levels of government, as well as providing all government contracts attorneys and related professionals the tangible—and intangible—benefits of being members of the preeminent bar association in our practice area. This has necessitated—and will continue to necessitate—making tough and realistic decisions on allocating our resources wisely. Additionally, it will require a renewed commitment from all of us who love the Section and who have enjoyed its benefits for so long, to deliver the message about the incredible value of the Section to the next generation of Section members and leaders.

Recognizing many of the professional, lifestyle, and budgetary changes that have emerged in recent years, the Section, beginning this bar year, is moving the fall educational conference (now the Fall Forum) to the Beltway area, with a singular focus on federal procurement, to make our conference more attractive and accessible for government and in-house counsel to attend. In November, we will host the 1.5 day Fall Forum at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, Virginia—right at the bottom of the elevator for numerous in-house counsels and within easy driving distance for many government attorneys as well. As part of the Fall Forum, we will also have a military-themed reception (details to come) to continue the Section’s tradition of the Air Force Trial Attorneys’ event that we previously held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting program. We are excited about this transition to Reston and are optimistic that we will see a lot of new faces there. At the same time, we are committed to working closely with our state & local practitioners who previously joined us at the fall conference for state and local programming. We will be developing and delivering content specific to their practices later in the year.

I am deeply honored by the trust the Section has placed in me to serve as Chair this year, and I look forward to working closely with the other Officers—Chair-Elect, Dan Chudd; Vice-Chair, Sheila Armstrong; Secretary, Amy Hoang; Membership Officer, Brad Jorgensen; Budget & Finance Officer, Patricia Becker; Immediate Past Chair, Eric Whytsell; and Previous Past Chair, Annejanette Pickens—to serve our membership, along with the Council, the Committee Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs, the conference planning teams, and journal and newsletter editorial boards. If you would like to become more involved in the Section, please email Section Director Patty Brennan. We welcome your participation.

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