Kendra Perkins Norwood

Kendra’s practice includes a broad range of litigation, regulatory compliance and transactional matters for companies that do business with federal and state governments, either as prime or subcontractors, or as third-party vendors or suppliers. Kendra also works with federal grant recipients on a range of legal issues. Kendra represents clients in bid protests, contract claims and disputes, terminations, mergers and acquisitions, False Claims Act matters, and suspension and debarment proceedings. She also routinely counsels companies on government ethics requirements, and works with clients to develop codes of business conduct and policies tailored to address their legal obligations as government contractors. Additionally, Kendra manages internal investigations and represents clients facing government investigations and audits.

Kendra works with companies of all types and sizes to navigate the complex requirements of the federal government marketplace, from large defense contractors and international companies doing business in the U.S. government market to 8(a) firms and other small and emerging businesses. Kendra has extensive experience working with General Services Administration (GSA) schedule contractors as well as companies participating in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) small business set-aside, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. She also advises for‐profit and non‐profit organizations on matters related to federal grants, cooperative agreements, technology investment agreements (TIAs), and other transaction authority (OTA) agreements. 

Kendra has specific experience working with clients in the health care industry. She routinely advises the firm’s health care clients on government contracts matters, including compliance with state and federal procurement regulations. Kendra is also an experienced commercial litigator who represents health care clients in disputes that arise under government-funded contracts, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Kendra has successfully protested and defended contract awards to health care organizations before administrative boards and courts at both the state and federal levels, in addition to representing health plans in a wide variety of litigation matters. She also has significant experience handling the range of legal issues that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) face, including those related to manufacturer rebates and administrative fees, claims processing and other commercial disputes.

Kendra’s clients span many industries, including aerospace and defense, information technology, telecommunications, professional and technical services, higher education, security, architectural and engineering (A&E), construction and health care. Over the course of her legal career, Kendra has handled matters involving nearly all the major contracting and grant-awarding agencies in the federal government.  

Before entering private practice, Kendra spent more than 10 years at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), working in budget and procurement, legislative affairs and grant portfolio management in support of the agency’s human spaceflight, space and life sciences, aeronautics research, small business and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education missions.

Representative Matters

• Represents clients in disputes with government agencies, including bid protests, contract claims, terminations, cost disallowances, adverse contracting officer final decisions, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and other agency actions before the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Boards of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Federal Circuit.
• Litigates commercial disputes in state and federal courts, with a focus on claims arising out of teaming agreements, subcontracts and other agreements executed to pursue or perform federal government contracts. Extensive experience with product liability multi-district litigation (MDL).
• Represents clients in connection with government investigations involving federal contracts and grants, including investigations by federal agencies, agency offices of inspector general and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including those involving alleged violations of the False Claims Act.
• Advises clients in transactions involving the acquisition of a government contractor by performing due diligence analyses and preparing submissions to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
• Represents government contractors in size protests and size and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code appeals before the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA).
• Counsels clients on issues related to contracting with the federal government through the SBA's 8(a), HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, and Women-Owned Small Business Programs, as well as the SBA's Mentor-Protégé programs.
• Significant experience with the SBIR and STTR programs, as well as many other non-traditional federal funding and grant programs, including Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) and Technology Investment Agreements (TIAs).
• Counseling state and federal grant recipients and subrecipients on grant compliance requirements and analyzing compliance with government ethics rules and regulations.
• Appealing agency decisions to disallow costs incurred under federal grants and negotiating settlements to reduce or eliminate financial liability for retroactively disallowed grant and cooperative agreement funding.
• Counseling clients on prime-sub disputes arising under SBIR and other federal grant awards.

Professional Experience

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (2000-2011)

• Strategic Portfolio and Policy Manager, Office of Education (2010-2011)
• Acting Director, Legislative Research and Analysis Division (2009-2010)
• Law Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Contracts and Procurement Practice Group (2008-2009)
• Legislative Liaison, Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (2002-2008)
• Budget and Procurement Analyst, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (2000-2002)

• Adjunct Professor, Public Budgeting, Texas Southern University School of Public Affairs (2003-2005)

• Grants Consultant, Bunkie Community Development Corporation (1999)

• Intern, Office of U.S. Senator John B. Breaux (D-LA) (1997-1998)

• Grants Assistant, Louisiana Department of Education (1994-1997)

Affiliations

• American Bar Association, Section of Public Contract Law
  • Vice Chair, Small Business & Other Socioeconomic Programs Committee
  • Vice Chair, Legislative Coordinating Committee
  • Bid Protest Committee
  • Contract Claims and Disputes Resolution Committee
  • Subcontracting, Teaming, and Strategic Alliances Committee
  • State and Local Procurement Committee
• Leadership Counsel for Legal Diversity (Pathfinder, 2017)
• National Bar Association
  • Chair, Government Procurement Law Section (2020)
  • Regional Director, Region XII; Board of Governors (2018-Present)
  • Past Deputy Director, Region XII
  • Commercial Law Section
  • Greater Washington Area Chapter (GWAC)
• National Contract Management Association
• Women in Aerospace
• Washington Bar Association
  • President (2021)
  • President-Elect (2020)
  • Vice President (2019)

Recognitions

• Recognized by Resolution of the Council of the District of Columbia for outstanding service as President of the Washington Bar Association (2022)
• Named to Law360’s Government Contracts Editorial Advisory Board (2022)
• Recognized by The Legal 500 US in Government Contracts (2021)
• Selected by the Washington Business Journal as a recipient of the “Women Who Mean Business” Award (2021)