The Chattanooga Bar Association is encouraging attorneys who would like to improve their knowledge of government contracts or explore a new area of practice to attend a 90-minute seminar to be held October 13 at the Mountain City Club. Attorney Kenneth Kendell will share his insight into the complex realm of government contracts at the Mountain City Club, located downtown on Chestnut Street, from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
Attendees will receive 1.5 general CLE credit hours. Topics to be discussed include general services administration schedules, contract formation, contract administration, subcontracts, compliance requirements, and bid protests, disputes, change orders and closeouts. Registration and breakfast will precede the seminar from 8 to 8:30 a.m. The cost is $45 for CBA members, $90 for non-members, and $25 for legal support staff. Attorneys can also register online using a Visa or MasterCard at the CBA Web site, located at www.chattbar.org.
For 15 years, Kendell was an assistant regional counsel in the U.S. General Services Administration’s Mid-Atlantic region. While at the GSA, he worked with a variety of government agencies and services in a number of forums such as the General Services Board of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He also provided legal advice, counsel and services to the GSA’s contracting officers, administration and staff.
Kendell participated in every phase of government contracting including prospectus and solicitation, reviewing of proposals and contract administration. He worked daily with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the General Service Administration Acquisition Manual, the Cost Accounting Standards and the Contract Disputes Act. Some of Kendell’s responsibilities included contracting matters for the Federal Supply Service such as Multiple Award Schedule contracts and GSA Schedules. His specialized government contract training at the U.S. Army JAG School included instruction in the Defense Acquisition Regulations System and federal fiscal law.
A large part of his duties involved the use of negotiating skills during arbitration and mediation as well as the informal resolutions of disputes. He also worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security following 9/11. For five years, Kendell was an assistant counsel in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s contract section. His duties included the negotiating, drafting, reviewing and approving of contracts, leases and other agreements between PDOT and the public, private, federal, interstate and corporate sectors. His position also included responsibilities related to bid protests. Every PDOT contract, of any sort, had to have his approval before being signed by a department official.
The contracts for which Kendell was responsible covered a wide spectrum of subject matters and categories, including highway construction contracts, airline leases with state-owned airports, and special service and design contracts. He worked closely with the engineering and technical employees of the department. Kendell also represented PDOT at hearings, eminent domain boards of view and other adjudications in several state and federal courts. He was also counsel to PDOT’s Bureau of Aviation and its Woman and Minority Owned Business review board.
He has an established law practice that provides legal and consulting services around the world. Among the services he provides to his clients are the creation of commercial and government contracting operations and departments. He also drafts, reviews and assists clients with proposals and responses to solicitations, bids and contract administration issues related to FAR, DFAR, DEAR, FCPA, FMS, CAS, FOIA, ITAR, EAR, compliance mandatory personnel training, earned value reporting requirements, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Davis Bacon Act, the Miller Act and the Walsh Healey Act.
Kendell is also experienced in government agency audits such as DCAA and DCMA. Additionally, he’s handled commercial contract and other UCC and CISG matters as well as contracts based on FIDIC books, such as EPC and Design Build. He’s negotiated and drafted agreements with governments and businesses in China, Korean, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, Poland, Greece, Netherlands, Morocco, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, India, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt, France and Spain.
Kendell has held real estate licenses in several states, where he’s managed industrial and commercial sales, leases and acquisitions. He’s also handled government property on matters such as the exercise of eminent domain and the transfer of land from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the U.S. Government. He was responsible for all of the leases and related matters at the Commonwealth-owned Harrisburg International and other state-owned airports. He’s also done free appraising and property valuations, and handled construction related matters on several large government construction ventures such as courthouses and power generation projects. In other words, if there’s an attorney who’s tailor made to discuss government contracts, it’s Kendell. Kendell earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Rider University in New Jersey and a Juris Doctor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich.
The CBA will host seven more CLE seminars following the one on October 13. The Hamilton County Herald will sponsor each one.