Mr. Abrahams is a founding partner of Abrahams Wolf-Rodda, LLC, a boutique government contracts and wage & hour law firm in the Washington DC metropolitan area. See www.awrcounsel.com. The practice includes traditional government contracts work (bid protests, claims, compliance advice, prime-sub disputes, etc.) and a wage & hour practice (spanning the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, various Executive Orders, and state wage laws). In the latter, Mr. Abrahams represents mostly employers in class and collective actions, individual lawsuits, federal and state wage investigations, and self-audit compliance. At his new boutique law firm, Mr. Abrahams is now available to represent workers in their personal wage claims, including collective and class actions. Mr. Abrahams also has been retained to be an exemption classification consultant and expert witness in wage and hour disputes.

Mr. Abrahams was formerly a partner at Brown Rudnick LLP for almost 10 years and was at Epstein Becker & Green, PC for almost 25 years. He is the former Chairman of the American Bar Association, Public Contract Law Section, Employment Safety & Labor Committee. He is also a former adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School where he taught a course called “Federal Labor Standards.”

Starting in 1985, Mr. Abrahams co-authored more than nine books in the fields of government contracts and wage and hour law. His wage & hour publications include the: Fair Labor Standards Handbook for State, Local Governments and Schools; Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act; FLSA Employer Exemption Handbook; and Public Employer's Guide to Payroll Administration. In 2011, Mr. Abrahams also co-authored three booklets: Smart Guide to FLSA Exemptions; Do I have to pay My Employees for This? FLSA Working Time Essentials; and FLSA Overtime Basics. In the government contracts field, Mr. Abrahams co-authored the: Government Contracts Compliance Guide; Public Official’s Guide to e-Government; and Government Contractor’s Guide to Employment Law Compliance. Overlapping the government contracts and wage & hour field, Mr. Abrahams co-authored two Federal Publications (now West) Briefing Papers: The Service Contract Act; and The Davis-Bacon Act.

Mr. Abrahams teaches regularly for Federal Publications Seminars on the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act. He has been a continuous speaker at ThomsonReuter’s Year in Review Conference and its predecessors since the late 1980s.

Paul Bailey is a Partner for Capital Edge Consulting. Mr. Bailey has broad experience with federal procurement rules and regulation through combined industry and public accounting experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. Over the course of his 30-year career, Paul has provided expert advice and testimony for government contractors and their counsel, government agencies including Inspector General and the Department of Justice on the administration of contracts and resolution of complex government accounting and compliance disputes. While in public accounting, Paul was responsible for the Department of Energy’s outsourced contractor audits to KPMG, including Incurred Cost and Price Proposals, CAS compliance and Business System adequacy. Paul has conducted audits for and on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice and Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General.

Paul joined Capital Edge Consulting from Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Florida where he was Vice President of Government Accounting and Compliance. In the accounting and compliance role, Paul was responsible for the oversight and approvals of the Business Systems to satisfy DCAA/DCMA surveillance and adequacy determinations. Paul orchestrated and directed an External Restructuring of CAS segments to align cost allocations and synergies following a major acquisition. Paul has been an industry leader in settlement of indirect rates based on past company experience foregoing the DCAA Incurred Cost Audit process. In addition to extensive accounting and compliance experience, he has held Vice President roles leading Contracts, Subcontract Administration, and Procurement functions.

Locke is a partner in MoFo’s Government Contracts & Public Procurement practice. He has been recognized by Chambers USA for his “proficiency across the government contracts space,” with sources commending his deep experience in Intellectual Property and Data Rights.

Locke counsels clients across industries through the full lifecycle of delivering technology and licensing software to U.S. federal, state, and local governments, and performing government-funded R&D through contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and other vehicles such as other transactions (OTs/OTAs), cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs), and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. He provides strategic advice for asserting, protecting, and enforcing patents, data rights, and other intellectual property under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and the Bayh-Dole Act, before statutory agencies such as NASA and the Department of Energy, and in engagements with OT consortia, federal laboratories, and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). He is a skilled negotiator of commercial and noncommercial licensing agreements, contracts and subcontracts, joint venture agreements, and teaming agreements. As a litigator, Locke represents clients in bid protests, complex contract claims, data rights challenges, patent and copyright infringement suits under 28 U.S. Code §1498, trade secrets misappropriation and reverse-FOIA disputes, and civil fraud and qui tam actions under the False Claims Act. Locke also regularly advises large and small businesses, private equity firms, and entrepreneurs on the complex government contracting and IP-related issues they face in M&A and other transactional matters.

Ryan Berry co-founded Ward & Berry with Dan Ward in 2017. Although Ryan is active in all of the firm’s practice areas, his current client work comprises investigations, corporate compliance, and general counsel representation of government contractors.

Before co-founding Ward & Berry, Ryan was an equity partner in one of the largest global law firms. He has successfully handled significant commercial litigation matters through trial for national security, technology, and sports and entertainment clients.

Ryan is experienced in handling international disputes and investigations for government contractors and multi-national corporations. His work in this area has been particularly focused on the False Claims Act (FCA) and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Ryan has skillfully guided clients through investigations brought by the Inspector General (IG) of federal agencies, Congressional investigations, suspensions and proposed debarments.

Ryan C. Bradel represents government contractors in all aspects of federal, state, and local procurement matters including bid protests, contract disputes, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) counseling, Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, and all other interfaces between the contractor and the government. Ryan has a cross-industry practice and has represented some of the foremost companies in the defense, intelligence, contingency operations, private security/private military, base operations support (BOS), weapons manufacturing, construction, information technology, cybersecurity, healthcare, veterans’ affairs/administration, linguist/translation, and energy sectors.

Ryan focuses his practice on government contracts litigation matters. He has successfully represented both protestors and interveners/awardees in bid protests before the Court of Federal Claims, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and at the agency level including at the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ryan has also led the prosecution of multi-million-dollar claims before the Court of Federal Claims, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and the Civilian Board of Contracts Appeals. Ryan is an accomplished trial lawyer and regularly takes bid protests and claims to hearings in these forums. When clients find themselves in disputes with their teaming partners, Ryan has effectively represented contractors in state and federal courts around the country as well as in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings where he won a number of arbitration awards or obtained favorable settlements at mediation.

Ryan has cultivated a unique expertise in the Small Business Administration (SBA) government contracting programs and has guided companies to certification and effective participation in the SBA’s programs for 8(a) socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, HUBZone small businesses, service disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB), and woman owned small businesses (WOSB), Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), Tribally-owned businesses. Ryan counsels these companies on maintaining their status as they undergo ownership changes or pursue mentor-protégé arrangements, joint ventures, teaming agreements, and strategic alliances. Ryan has extensive experience litigating size protests, size appeals, and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) appeals before the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) and has helped shape significant legal precedents in this forum.

Chad Braley is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Capital Edge Consulting, Inc. Since its inception, Capital Edge has grown into the country’s leading firm, focusing solely on serving both foreign and domestic contractors who do business with the US Government.

Chad’s areas of expertise include the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), agency supplement regulations, Contractor Accounting, Purchasing, Estimating, MMAS, and EVM Business Systems, Truth in Negotiations Act, government accounting requirements Incurred Cost Submissions (ICS), DCAA Audits support and preparation, other regulatory non-compliance support, Terminations, Requests for Equitable Adjustment (REA), ERP systems and risk mitigation.

Matt Carter is the co-leader of Pillsbury’ s Government Contracts & Disputes practice. His practice includes litigating bid protests, conducting internal investigations, representing companies and individuals in suspension and debarment proceedings, and providing regulatory and compliance advice.

Matt, the leader of Pillsbury’s Bid Protests team, has achieved successful results for his clients in more than 50 bid protests at the Government Accountability Office, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Matt also is a leading suspension and debarment lawyer. He has successfully represented corporations and individuals before numerous civilian and defense suspension and debarment officials, including the Air Force, the Army, DLA, the EPA, and the Navy, to ensure their continued eligibility to participate in federal programs. Matt is active in the ABA’s Public Contracts section and has served as a vice-chair of that section’s Suspension and Debarment Committee. He has also successfully defended numerous defense contractors in False Claims Act litigation.

A former Division One athlete, Matt was named a 2022 “ Rising Star” in the government contracts field by Law360and was recognized as a 2023 “ Rising Star” in Government Contracts by Bloomberg Law. He has also been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for Government Contracts in 2016 – 2018 and 2023 – 2024.

Kirk A. Foster is an Assistant General Counsel and the Director of Compliance and Privacy for Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Mission
Technologies. In this capacity, he advises the President and senior leaders of HII Mission Technologies on compliance and legal matters,
and supports the HII Mission Technologies business operations counsel and compliance managers on legal, regulatory, and strategic issues. He also supports the HII Mission Technologies Chief Information Officer on cyber and technology matters.

Prior to joining the HII Law Department in 2019, Kirk served a 28-year career with the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he served in a variety of senior legal advisor and leadership positions in the Pentagon, and at various Navy and Joint commands, including two sea deployments and deployments to Iraq and Pakistan.

Mr. Katz is a Counsel in Brown Rudnick’s Washington, DC office where he is a member of the Wage and Hour Group, a practice spanning the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, and state wage laws. He represents mostly employers in class and collective actions, individual lawsuits, federal and state wage investigations, and self-audit compliance. Mr. Katz also has been retained to be an exemption classification consultant.

Mr. Katz is fluent in Hebrew.

Perry Keating is the Managing Director and President of Protiviti Government Services (Pro Gov), with over 30 years of experience in business and service with the government and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB).

Perry’s technical expertise includes protecting government data, systems, and networks from cybersecurity assessments, policy development, and remediation through incident response for compliance with a variety of frameworks (FAR 52.204-21, DFARS 252.204-7012, FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST RMF, NIST 800-53; NIST 800-171, CMMC).

His experience gives him unique industry insight into the Aerospace & Defense (A&D), Government Contractors (GovCon), Defense Industrial Base (DIB), and Public Sector (US Federal, State & Local) as well as the Telecommunications and High-Tech industries.

Perry earned his MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Tulane University. He proudly served as a Commissioned Officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers.

He is a member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM); the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA); the Army Engineer Association (AEA); the Association of the United States Army (AUSA); the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA); and the Reserve Officers Association (ROA)

James Newland is a partner in Dentons US LLP, a licensed architect, and his law practice focuses on major construction and public works projects and includes a mix of non-contentious and contentious matters. He is ranked by Chambers USA which describes him as “very well versed in construction law and construction related issues.” He began practice in 1998.

In his practice, James drafts and negotiates construction contracts and procurement documents and helps clients resolve major complex claims involving construction and design issues on domestic and international projects. He represents national and international contractors and project owners in transactional work, mediation, arbitration and litigation. He has significant experience in vertical construction, power and heavy civil contracting and claims, as well as in design-build, P3, alliance contracting and traditional design-bid build delivery formats. Government construction contracting is a major focus of his work.

Prior to practicing law, James practiced architecture and worked as a project manager on development projects. Given this experience, James is frequently called upon to counsel clients on risk management and allocation, advising on troubled projects during the construction phase, project work-outs and project closeout strategies.

Matt Popham is Sr. Vice President, Government Compliance Director, Leidos.

Tom Reynolds is a Partner in HKA’s Government Contracts Practice in Washington, D.C. Tom is a forensic accountant and CPA with 20 years of experience helping government contractors navigate the complex government contracting compliance rules and regulations. Tom has provided government contract accounting, auditing and advisory support to government contractors across numerous industries, including aerospace and defense, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, engineering, and professional services. Tom has presented contractors’ positions and facilitated negotiations with contracting officers, DCAA, DCMA, and other regulatory bodies.

Tom has supported government contractors in connection with business systems compliance assessments, DCAA/DCMA audit support, False Claims Act disputes, merger and acquisition due diligence and post-merger integration, and indirect rate modelling and analysis. Tom deals extensively with critical government contracting regulations and requirements, including the FAR, DFARS, and CAS.

Phillip Seckman represents clients concerning government and commercial contract matters. His practice spans a broad range of subjects related to federal procurement law, state and local procurement law, and complex federal regulatory issues. He concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial item acquisitions, GSA schedule contracting, cybersecurity, compliance, internal investigations, and bid protests (both federal and state). A significant component of his practice involves government contract cost allowability, proper cost accounting, and contract cost and pricing issues.

Phil has significant experience in the assessment, presentation, and litigation of complex contract claims. He also has significant experience assisting clients in establishing policies and procedures to ensure compliance with government contract requirements. When potential non-compliances have been identified, Phil has assisted in the internal review and assessment of these issues and has aided clients in the preparation of appropriate disclosures when required. He frequently assists DOD contractor clients regarding business systems issues, including preparing for, responding to, and remediating issues associated with reviews conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Phil frequently writes and lectures regarding commercial item acquisitions, GSA schedule contracting, cybersecurity, business systems, FAR Mandatory Disclosure Rule, and cost accounting issues.

Phil was recently named a Fellow of the National Contract Management Association. Phil also has been repeatedly recognized as a "Rising Star" by Colorado Super Lawyers.

Laura A. Semple serves as Assistant General Counsel for Amentum, where she provides advice on Government contracting, employment, and corporate law issues. Ms. Semple previously worked as an associate at Smith Pachter McWhorter, PLC, where she counseled Government contractors on cost and pricing issues and resolved claims relating to disallowed costs, CAS noncompliances, and accounting change cost impacts. Ms. Semple counseled Government contractors on compliance with mandatory disclosure obligations, incurred cost submissions, and other Government reporting requirements. Ms. Semple co-teaches the Cost & Pricing Course for the Masters in Procurement Law Program at the George Washington University Law School. She is an active member of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law and currently serves as Vice-Chair for the ABA Accounting, Cost, and Pricing Committee. Ms. Semple also serves as President of the Boards of Contract Appeals Bar Association.

James W Thomas (Jim) is a forensic accountant with 35 years of experience providing consulting and dispute resolution services to government contractors. He has been retained as an expert on more than 50 occasions.

Jim has testified as an expert in proceedings before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, General Services Board of Contract Appeals, District Court and in arbitration. He has served as a neutral accountant in purchase price disputes involving government contract accounting issues.

In addition to his expertise in aerospace and defense, Jim serves many industries including technology, engineering and professional services, industrial products, construction, retail products and healthcare. Prior to joining HKA, he was a forensic services partner specializing in government contracts with PwC.

Jim specializes in cost and pricing matters including government audit issues, False Claims Act damages, defective pricing, labor charging, Cost Accounting Standards, cost allowability, record keeping requirements, Federal Supply Schedule contracts, claims, requests for equitable adjustment, terminations and prime/subcontractor disputes.

Kristin Torcasi is the Vice President of Government Compliance for CACI International Inc headquartered in Arlington, VA. Kristin is responsible for ensuring compliance with Government contract requirements and serves as the company’s liaison for Government inquires and audits. Kristin has a wide range of experience in government contract accounting, including business system compliance; preparation of incurred cost proposals and forward pricing rates; application of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Cost Accounting Standards (CAS); CASB Disclosure Statement preparation; cost allowability matters; cost accounting structure evaluation; and cost impact preparation.

Kristin is a CPA in the state of Virginia.

J.A. White & Associates, LLC is a leader in Federal Contracting and Compliance delivering innovative solutions that simplify and optimize complex Procurement processes. Our services span a wide range of industries, including Defense and Aerospace, and support clients from emerging start-ups to established large businesses.
With over 40 years of extensive experience in both the private and public sectors, White's expertise has led his firm to have an unprecedented 100% approval rate for Contractor Purchasing System Reviews and other Business System assessments.

White has introduced two groundbreaking proprietary solutions that have assisted small and large government contractors streamline their Procurement workflow process. CPSR ProDocs, Automated Procurement Compliance and ClauseSync, Automated Clause Flowdowns.
Leveraging a company’s existing enterprise platform, both engines automate compliance-related procurement documentation and eliminate inefficiencies of manual tasks by providing a guided, regulation-based process that ensures consistency, accuracy, and audit readiness. A company's benefits may include financial savings, mitigating company risk, and improved position for future awards.