They’ve Got Next: Government Contracts Fresh Face Elizabeth Jochum

“It was serendipity,” said Elizabeth Jochum on how she found the world of government contracting.

In her first job out of college, she was working as a reporter for Government Executive, a Washington-based magazine covering government agencies. There was a restaffing, and she found herself in a new beat— government contracting— despite not having any background in it.

“It was a great life move. I became really interested in regulatory changes and the various types of litigation that can arise, and soon realized my heart was in government contracts law, not journalism,” she said.

The two areas are “similar, though. We get to write a lot, and talk to different people,” she said.

Learning to digest a lot of complex information, and distill that into compelling up-front points has been useful in practicing law, she said.

“Especially in bid protests, you’re trying to take what can potentially be a very nuanced issue and grab the GAO attorney or judge’s attention quickly that something has gone awry here. It’s very similar to how you try to quickly grab a reader when writing a news piece,” she said.

An internship for former Judge Susan G. Braden of the US Court of Federal Claims during law school was a “really good experience for getting a behind-the-scenes look at how government contracts litigation decisions are made, and getting an understanding of the kind the cases the court hears,” Jochum said.

Jochum has become an emerging leader in the field. In April 2022, she successfully defended Riva Solutions Inc.'s award under the USPTO’s business-oriented software solutions procurement from several bid protests. The procurement has a $2 billion maximum value.

She and her team defended the award at the Government Accountability Office first before protesters tried to stop the procurement at the claims court.

Judge Eric G. Bruggink of the US Court of Federal Claims upheld the awards, rejecting a rival’s argument that the agency failed to follow the solicitation’s requirements before selecting Riva and four other companies.

This case presented a “unique challenge” because of the number of protesters and intervening awardees involved, Jochum said. It turned into a “game of whack-a-mole” trying to protect the client’s award, she said.

Finding success here required gaining a “deep knowledge” of the contract vehicle, as well as considering and communicating to the client the “risks posed by each of the many the protest grounds, the odds you’ll win, the odds you’ll lose, the chance for corrective action, or any results that could put the award at risk,” she said.

Months later, Jochum stopped a challenge to TekSynap Corp.'s $87 million task order issued under the Defense Logistics Agency’s J6 Enterprise Technology Services contract, which involves information technology support services, such as database systems and cybersecurity engineering support.

The protester didn’t show that the agency erred by not acknowledging several key personnel strengths in its bid, the GAO said in a decision released in June.

“In these situations, as the intervenor, you really look at the agency’s documentation of the award decision, whether it followed the solicitation, and whether it identified a concrete basis for the decision,” Jochum said.

The agency “did a solid job justifying its selection of TekSynap at a slightly higher price based on all of the technical advantages TekSynap offered,” she said.

In addition to bid protest work, 2023 has been a “very active” year for Jochum’s False Claims Act defense work, Jochum said.

Her preference is to have a “good solid mix” of the two areas, she said.

“It’s good to be thrown into the deep end with a bid protest, and have tight deadlines, and have the work go fast and end quickly. But its also nice to live with an FCA case for a long period of time. It gives you chance to understand all there is to know about a client’s business,” she said.

People may think defense companies are the typical government contractors, but they aren’t the only ones doing business with the government, she said.

“Consulting firms, office supply companies, software companies, and lots of other well-known commercial companies do government contracts, and they are the ones that often have the biggest uphill battle in terms of staying compliant with the many applicable regulations, which can apply company-wide,” she said.

“The compliance burden for government contractors is always high, but for companies with relatively low levels of federal sales compared to their overall commercial business, it can feel really disproportionate and discourage them from entering into government contracts,” she said.

Jochum also has two kids, ages 3 and 5, the oldest of which just started playing flag football.

“It’s a nice a family hobby on the weekends,” she said.