Fundamentals of Government Contracting

Course Faculty

Brian A. Darst is an attorney with the firm of Odin, Feldman & Pittleman in Fairfax, Virginia, and holds the position of Counsel. He specializes in legal matters involving Government construction and service contract law and has extensive experience in the areas of contract formation and administration issues, bid protests, claims preparation and litigation, internal investigations, voluntary disclosures, procurement fraud investigations, various suspension and debarment proceedings, matters related to Small Business Administration, and other issues involving the award and administration of federal and state government contracts. Mr. Darst has represented clients in various matters before the Government Accountability Office, the Postal Service, Armed Services, and General Services Administration Boards of Contract Appeals, the Court of Federal Claims, the Small Business Office of Hearing and Appeals, and various agency-level proceedings. Mr. Darst's practice includes assisting clients with matters related to the sale and acquisition of firms involved in Government contracting, software licensing issues, other corporate governance matters, and civil litigation in Virginia and District of Columbia.

Mr. Darst is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of West Virginia.

Mr. Darst earned his B.A. from Marshall University and a J.D. from West Virginia University. After graduating from law school, Mr. Darst worked as an attorney with the United States Navy's Office of General Counsel and represented the Navy in matters involving the acquisition and administration of service and supply contracts for the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Andrew D. Irwin is of counsel in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Litigation and International Departments. He practices at the intersection of government procurement and international regulatory law, focusing primarily on corporate investigations and related compliance counseling. He has a particular background in laws and regulations that relate to government contracting fraud, export controls/sanctions, and foreign corruption.  He also has considerable experience in general corporate ethics/compliance counseling, as well as ethics/compliance program administration and development. He has conducted investigations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East (including on the ground in Iraq). Prior to coming to Steptoe, Mr. Irwin spent several years as inside counsel for one of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies.

Government Contracts
Mr. Irwin has counseled clients on a wide range of government contracts issues.  A particular area of focus is ethics and compliance.  Other topics on which Mr. Irwin has provided advice include foreign acquisition, proprietary information, schedule contracting, small business subcontracting, the SAFETY Act/P.L. 85-804, and the use of non-traditional acquisition vehicles such as “other transactions.”   In addition, as inside counsel to a major government and international contractor, Mr. Irwin advised senior management, business development, and procurement personnel regarding a full range of contract formation and administration issues involving numerous significant programs for the US Departments of Defense and Energy, as well as the US Agency for International Development. In addition, Mr. Irwin supervised bid protest litigation and was responsible for a number of Freedom of Information Act-related matters.

Export Controls, Sanctions, FCPA
Mr. Irwin has considerable experience counseling clients in a number of industries regarding their compliance with the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).  Much of his practice relates to enforcement matters, including voluntary disclosures and related internal investigations.  He also advises clients regarding developing policies and procedures to prevent and detect violations and preparing license, classification and commodity jurisdiction requests. Mr. Irwin has also counseled clients regarding all major US sanctions regimes administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and conducted investigations regarding potential sanctions violations.  In addition, he has helped clients address a wide-range of issues related to working in Iraq. Mr. Irwin also has extensive Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) experience. He has investigated potential FCPA violations in numerous locales, including having conducted dozens of witness interviews. In addition, he has conducted FCPA due diligence and audits of sales agents, as well as prepared corporate policies and training materials regarding FCPA compliance. He frequently draws upon his background in public procurement in such matters.  

Government Enforcement & Corporate Compliance
Apart from Mr. Irwin’s experience in international enforcement areas such as the FCPA, Mr. Irwin has also litigated a number of False Claims Act cases and related matters, including those brought by qui tam relators. His clients have included defense, healthcare, and petroleum companies. He has prepared the full-scale compliance program required as part of a defense industry settlement. In addition, while in-house, he was actively involved in developing and administering a global ethics and compliance program for a major company. Mr. Irwin has also assisted clients in parallel criminal investigations, including responding to criminal subpoenas, preparing for and reacting to search warrants, and interacting with IG and FBI agents.  

He has been an Associate Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School, a guest lecturer for its Government Contracts Program, and has given numerous CLE presentations on a wide range of government contracts and international topics for Federal Publications Seminars and West Legalworks, including running a course on ITAR compliance and audits and webcasts on topics such as FCPA due diligence and export controls for government contractors, as well as teaching a course on the fundamentals of government contracts. He is also a frequent author on government contracts, international regulatory matters and corporate compliance.  He is on the Advisory Board for Thomson West’s The Government Contractor as well as a frequent contributor to Thomson West’s International Government Contractor.  He was a speaker on export controls and FCPA topics at the 2007 Thomson West’s Government Contracts Year in Review Conference, and he spoke at the 2008 Conference primarily on the FCPA and US sanctions.  He is a co-editor, with Ed Krauland and Jack Hayes, of Thomson West’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations Handbook.