Pablo Nichols is an associate in the firm’s San Francisco office and is a member of the Government Contracts Group. Pablo focuses his practice on counseling and dispute resolution for government contractors, including clients in the information technology, health care, security, and defense industries. Pablo’s litigation experience includes successfully prosecuting and defending against bid protests before the United States Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Government Accountability Office, litigating False Claims Act and other contract disputes in federal district courts nationwide, litigating claims before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and challenging suspension and debarment decisions and other federal agency administrative actions. In addition to his litigation experience, Pablo also counsels government contractors on a wide range of issues, including but not limited to organizational conflicts of interest, the Procurement Integrity Act, defective pricing, GSA contracting, teaming agreements and subcontractor relationships, and small business regulations.
Prior to joining Morrrison & Foerster in 2012, Pablo was an associate in the Government Contracts Practice at Dickstein Shapiro LLP. Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro in 2009, Pablo served as a law clerk to the Honorable Mary Ellen Coster Williams (2008) and the Honorable Thomas C. Wheeler (2007-2008) at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Pablo is admitted to practice in both the District of Columbia and the State of California, as well as before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Pablo is a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Public Contract Law, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the California Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Bar Association.
Representative Experience (includes prior law firm experience)
False Claims Act and Internal Investigations
- Represented large Department of Defense contractor in conducting internal investigation into potential defective pricing issues, and provided counsel on issues related to mandatory disclosure rules.
- Represented GSA schedule contractor in investigating and defending against FCA allegations by relator in qui tam action.
- Represented veteran-owned small business in responding to FCA investigation by the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, including analysis of FCA damages issues to improve negotiating position with the Government.
Bid Protests before the Court of Federal Claims and GAO
- Successfully prosecuted a competitive range bid protest at GAO and secured the client’s admission into the competitive range. After the client subsequently was awarded a $310 million translation services contract, successfully defended the award against a myriad of allegations from three post-award protesters at GAO.
- Successfully defended a $3 billion award for a U.S. Army armored vehicle contract against bid protests from two unsuccessful offerors.
- Successfully defended a $2.5 billion NASA contract award for fixed-price IT services against a GAO protest from an unsuccessful offeror.
- Defeated two post-award challenges to the Department of Veteran Affairs’ contract awards for the $12 billion “T4 Program” at the United States Court of Federal Claims.
- Defended $30 million GSA 8(a) STARS II GWAC award for IT services against a myriad of protest allegations filed at GAO.
- Represented contractor in pre-award bid protest at the Court of Federal Claims and persuaded the agency to amend the RFP and revise unlawful language.
Federal District Court Litigation and Dispute Resolution
- Obtained summary judgment for a major defense contractor and defeated a $190 million breach of contract claim brought by a disappointed supplier in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
- Persuaded the Department of Homeland Security to vacate its decision to suspend a government contractor for one year.
- Arbitrated a breach of contract claim before the International Chamber of Commerce’s Court of Arbitration, and obtained a multimillion dollar award for the client.
- Represented former aerospace manufacturer in federal district court during five-week trial to recover environmental cleanup costs from the Department of Defense (decision pending).
- Represented consortium of power generators in federal district court during trial on preemption and dormant Commerce Clause claims (decision pending).
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Supervises diligence review and analyzes government contracts issues to support mergers and acquisitions involving government contracts, including SoftBank’s $20.1 billion dollar acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corporation.