Top Gov’t Contracting Decisions Of 2026: Midyear Report

J. Hunter Bennett, of counsel at Covington & Burling LLP who focuses on government contracts, was quoted by Law360 in its midyear review of the top government contracts-related rulings and settlements of 2026. In Syneren Technologies Corp. et al. v. U.S., a Federal Circuit panel ruled in February that the U.S. Department of Commerce had the authority to take unilateral corrective action to scrap all awards under a $1.5 billion information technology contract and restart the evaluation process—in response to complaints from CAN Softtech Inc. and other contractors—instead of waiting for a remand from the claims court.

Commenting on the decision, Bennett said it was possible that contractors would not see a sudden rush of similar cases where the government takes universal corrective action while a protest is still pending.

"Agencies are usually pretty confident about their award decisions and are willing to roll the dice and wait for a decision from the court rather than pulling the plug before then, and, of course, this type of lightning speed, unilateral corrective action wouldn’t be possible in cases where the agency has to get revised proposals from the offers to fix whatever the problem is,” Hunter said.