Established in 1960 by Professors Emeritus Ralph C. Nash, Jr. and John Cibinic, Jr., the GW Law Government Procurement Law Program is the only one of its kind in the United States and is recognized as a leading program in this field around the world. The program offers internationally known faculty; myriad curricular offerings; and cutting-edge public programs featuring esteemed speakers from academia, government, and private practice.
The Program proudly offers one of the most diverse and sophisticated government procurement law curriculums in the world. This not only provides students with a richer understanding of how procurement systems operate (both in the U.S. and abroad), it exposes students to varying perspectives on emerging issues in the law. In addition to our in-residence courses, the Program now boasts two fully online degree programs in the Law School (the LLM in Government Procurement Law and MSL in Government Procurement Law).
Washington, D.C.’s location at the epicenter of federal government procurement law and policy generates unparalleled networking and employment opportunities for our students and alumni and, of course, a rich selection of government procurement externships. Government procurement students are exposed to sophisticated and cutting-edge legal projects at, among others, the Department of Justice, the World Bank, U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Office of Management and Budget, and NASA.
Each year, one of the Program’s crowning annual events is the Arnold & Porter Government Contracts Moot Court Competition. Each participant has the opportunity to argue both sides of a government contracts case before senior practitioners, including sitting judges from the various Boards of Contract Appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The final round is usually argued in the ceremonial courtroom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The competition problem and the best briefs are published each year in the Public Contract Law Journal, and winners take home significant cash prizes.
The Program also continues to enjoy its association with the leading publications in the government procurement field, including the three seminal publications: Formation of Government Contracts, Administration of Government Contracts, and the Government Contracts Reference Book. GW Law also maintains a partnership with the American Bar Association to co-publish the Public Contract Law Journal, the premier journal in the field of public contract law. The Program also sponsors the Public Procurement, Government Contracts & Outsourcing eJournal, available on SSRN. In addition, after a half-century of collecting important texts, the Law School’s library also maintains the best government procurement collection in the world (curated by supported by our extraordinarily talented and engaged subject-matter librarian specialist, Mary Kate Hunter).
Our faculty are typically included in the major conferences in the field, and the Program regularly hosts conferences and colloquia featuring the leading government procurement experts in the country and the world. These events play an important role in influencing critical government procurement policies impacting global government procurement regimes. Recent events include the Program’s annual procurement law conference with Kings College London, the International Forum for Business Ethical Conduct (IFBEC)’s Annual Conference, and a global webinar series on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on procurement.
The Program also maintains a significant presence and impact abroad. Government contracts faculty have circled the globe, working in varying capacities in over 50 countries. Faculty frequently engage in the global academic community, building relationships and partnerships, and contributing to the law transfer movement through high-level participation in programs, initiatives, conferences, and workshops sponsored by, among others, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program.
The GW Law experience is dynamic, rigorous, and practical. Simply put, there is no better place than GW Law to study and participate in the engaging life of the law.