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Am Law 100 firm with practices in Business, Digital Assets and Data Management, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Litigation and Tax.

Home | BakerHostetler

What to Expect and How to Prepare: A Guide to Employing Foreign Workers in the Age of Trump

Teresa Goody Guillén Supports New SEC Nominee in Institutional Investor Article

Carolina Alonso Shares Her Journey to the Legal Profession with High School Students

​Bill Bergmann Elected Treasurer of Court of Federal Claims Bar Association; Continues Role on Advisory Council

Kevin has significant experience litigating bid protests and tailors each bid protest strategy to the case, which has led to victories in agency-level, GAO, Court of Federal Claims and Federal Circuit protests.&nbsp;After award, Kevin has helped contractors respond to performance issues, defend against terminations and assert claims against the government.&nbsp;He has helped file scores of requests for equitable adjustments and helped several clients negotiate terminations for default into terminations for convenience.&nbsp;When agreement cannot be reached, he has extensive experience litigating such matters before the Court of Federal Claims, Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.&nbsp;

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As a full-service government contracts attorney, Kevin helps companies build the necessary systems and infrastructure to ensure success.&nbsp;He has helped countless companies expand into the federal marketplace with a solid foundation for their compliance obligations.&nbsp;Kevin has also been called on to conduct internal investigations when questions are raised about the adequacy of a company’s existing compliance systems.&nbsp;He has been involved in numerous such investigations ranging from questions about proper time charging and badging disputes to the correct handling of sensitive government information.&nbsp;He has also built ethics and compliance programs for long standing federal contractors who identified gaps in their systems.

More recently, Kevin has spent an increasing amount of time advising contractors on the evolving cybersecurity requirements imposed on government contractors.&nbsp;Beyond merely advising clients on their obligations, Kevin has presented webinars on compliance with DOD’s cybersecurity requirements and the development of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) rule as well as the more recent analogs from other federal agencies, like the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Homeland Security.&nbsp;He has represented clients in connection with their reporting obligations after data breaches and helped investigate cybersecurity and data handling practices.

Kevin also counsels companies on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).&nbsp;He has helped scores of clients file records requests and works with the agency to ensure prompt and complete responses.&nbsp;Kevin has litigated many FOIA cases on both sides.&nbsp;He is a fierce advocate for companies battling the government for records and has used this aggressive approach in parallel to companies involved in or anticipating disputes with the government, such as possible False Claims Act matters or potential claims.&nbsp;These tactics allow companies to build their arguments and affirmative defenses earlier in the litigation process.&nbsp;On the other hand, Kevin has defended companies whose information is being sought.&nbsp;He has successfully intervened in a Ninth Circuit appeal on behalf of a biotechnology trade association and in a district court case for another technology company—in both cases preventing the information from being disclosed. He has also worked behind the scenes with the government to support its case to withhold certain contractor records and defend his client’s interest without becoming a party to the litigation.

In addition, Kevin advises clients on complex attorney-client privilege matters, including the structuring of cross-border investigations to preserve the privilege for a large technology company, ability to assert privilege over forensic investigations accompanying data breaches and the organization of the legal department at a Fortune 10 company. He is a contributing author to the leading treatise on the attorney-client privilege, Attorney-Client Privilege in the United States, which is routinely cited by federal appellate courts and state supreme courts.

J.D., American University Washington College of Law, 2010, 

B.A., George Washington University, 2004

<ul>
<li>The Legal 500 United States
<ul>
<li>Recommended in Government Contracts (2024)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Washington, D.C., &#8220;Super Lawyer&#8221;: Government Contracts (2023 to 2024)</li>
<li>JD Supra Readers Choice Awards
<ul>
<li>Top 10 Government Contracts Author (2023)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>D.C. Bar Pro Bono Capital Honor Roll
<ul>
<li>High Honors (2017 to 2021)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Washington, D.C.

Federal Contractors Must File Objections to Prevent the Release of EEO-1 Reports Under FOIA

Data Counsel

The DoD’s CMMC Rule Is Out: What Comes Next?

(Cyber)Security Theater 101 – Georgia Tech, a Teachable Moment

CMMC Barrels Closer to Implementation with Latest Proposed Rule Establishing DFARS Contract Clauses

FedRAMP Rewritten: OMB Publishes Guidance with FedRAMP’s Updated Vision, Scope and Governance Structure

FedRAMP Begins to Implement Its Vision: Introducing the Agile Delivery Pilot, Developer’s Hub and Knowledge Management System

BakerHostetler attorneys, practice areas stand out in The Legal 500 annual guide

Kevin Barnett Re-Elected to D.C. Bar Government Contracts Community Steering Committee

Changes Ahead: FedRAMP’s Roadmap To The Future

Stephen Ruscus, Kevin Barnett, Kaitlyn Toth Contribute Chapter to Public Procurement 2024

BakerHostetler Continues Corporate Growth With Addition of Government Contracts Lawyer Kevin Barnett

Business

Compliance and Corporate Governance Oversight

Government Contracts

Ethics and Privilege Consulting

<ul>
<li>Successfully protested state lottery printing contract worth an estimated $35 million.</li>
<li>Advised Department of Defense contractor on breach notification obligations and other cybersecurity requirements.</li>
<li>Successfully represented reverse pharmaceutical distribution contractor in appeal of agency demand for overpayment, settling for the full value of contractor’s claim.</li>
<li>Represented construction company in dispute over government delays and violations of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, including appealing default termination and filing certified claims.</li>
<li>Guided Fortune 500 company on settlement process for termination for convenience of $600 million COVID-related contract.</li>
<li>Advised technology start-up on best practices for structuring global internal investigation to create and maintain attorney-client privilege and work product protections.</li>
<li>Lead counsel in bio-technology company’s intervention in FOIA litigation intervenor to prevent disclosure of sensitive grant applications and settlement agreements through successful motion for summary judgment and partial motion to dismiss.  Zirvi v. U.S. National Institutes of Health, et al., Case No. 20-7648, 2022 WL 1261591 (D.N.J. Apr. 28, 2022).</li>
</ul>
Publications
<ul>
<li>Attorney-Client Privilege in the United States, ThomsonReuters (Contributing Author since 2012 ed.) (leading treatise routinely cited by federal appellate and district courts)</li>
<li>Attorney-Client Privilege: State Law (2024 ed.), available as ACP-STATE on Westlaw (Contributing Author: CA, DE, OH, PA, AZ, AK, OR, ID, LA, MT, NH, NM, NC, OK, RI, WY)</li>
<li>Co-author, “TikTok Time Expires: New FAR Clause Bans App on Federal Contractor Devices,” Westlaw Today, June 28, 2023</li>
<li>Author, “Guidance Needed for ESOP Sole-Source Pilot Program,” Law360, May 4, 2022</li>
<li>Co-author, “We Are Beginning to See Effects of High Court FOIA Ruling,” Law360, Aug. 25, 2020</li>
<li>Co-author, “Key Ruling Issued on Privilege Waivers,” National Defense, May 26, 2020</li>
<li>Co-author, “Problems Persist with Commercial Item Rule,” National Defense, Apr. 2018</li>
<li>Co-author, “The Latest Clue to Solving the Maropakis Riddle: The Affirmative Defense of Offset,” Pratt’s Gov’t Contracting Law Report, June 2017</li>
<li>Co-author, “Confidentiality Agreements Create Challenges,” National Defense, Feb. 2017</li>
<li>Co-author, “Information is Power: Using FOIA to Your Advantage When Asserting a Claim,” Contract Management, Aug. 2015</li>
<li>Co-author, “A Closer Look at DOD’s Proposed Price Reasonableness Rule,” Law30, Aug. 20, 2015</li>
</ul>
Presentations
<ul>
<li>“Claims &amp; Disputes: The A-Z Guide,” 2022 DC Bar Gov’t Contracting Law Inst., (Oct. 2022)</li>
<li>“Small Business Subcontracting Plans: Making a Good Faith Effort and Compliance Tips,” Public Contracting Institute (Jan. 2022)</li>
<li>“Understanding FOIA Exemption 4: Protecting Confidential Information after Food Marketing Institute,” Public Contracting Institute (Nov. 2019)</li>
<li>“Privilege Issues in Gov’t Contracts Disputes,” Bd. of Contract Appeals Bar Ass’n (Oct. 2019)</li>
<li>“Government Contract Claims 101,” ABA Public Contract Law Section Young Lawyers Committee (June 2019)</li>
<li>“Fishing in Commercial Waters: Changes in Commercial Item Contracting,” ABA Public Contract Law Section, Federal Procurement Institute (Mar. 2017)</li>
</ul>

Kevin T. Barnett

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