Contractor Team Arrangements - Competitive Solution or Legal Liability:  The Deskbook for Drafting Teaming Agreements

By Michael W. Mutek

http://www.abanet.org/abapubs/books/5390242

NDIA Lone Star Chapter member Michael Mutek, the Vice-President and General Counsel of Raytheon Intelligence Information Systems recently published the book "Contractor Team Arrangements - Competitive Solution or Legal Liability: The Deskbook for Drafting Teaming Agreements." This is the first deskbook to provide a practical resource in the important team formation process. It provides a solid understanding of the significant reasons for team formation, including the risks inherent in the formation process, while offering a framework to facilitate successful team arrangements.

Although forming a team is a critical element in a federal contractor's success, it is often done in the heat of a competition and not given the due diligence that it requires. The teaming process may bring together companies that are fierce competitors in other situations, yet here they must put competition aside to act in a collaborative environment. For optimum success, teaming needs to be approached with focus because it is a decision with major competitive impacts and significant legal obligations.

With the increasing use of teaming arrangements, "Contractor Team Arrangements" provides much-needed analysis and explanation of the teaming process, its benefits, and its difficulties. To help practitioners effectively utilize team arrangements, this deskbook:

-- Explains the reasons why companies seek to form team arrangements

-- Discusses potential benefits and common risks in the team formation process

-- Identifies risk mitigation to ensure that team formation can be an effective business builder and not a liability

-- Examines the due diligence process and why it is critical in picking a team member

-- Reviews the types of agreements that can facilitate team formation

-- Provides strategy points for negotiating and tailoring team agreements

-- Reviews judicial decisions and examines anticompetitive concerns

Appendices contain important supplemental material and sample forms, including proprietary information disclosure agreements, letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, memorandum of intent, two teaming agreements, and due diligence checklist, as well as pertinent FAR materials.

2006, 172 pages, 8 ½ x 11, paper, ISBN: 1-59031-679-7

You can order a copy for $40 from the Section of Public Contract Law of the American Bar Association.  Members of the Section of Public Contract Law pay $40. Non-members pay $50.00.  You can order online at http://www.abanet.org/abapubs/books/5390242.

To order by phone, you can call the ABA Service Center at 1-800-285-2221 and request product code 5390242.