The U.S. government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, spending more than $690 billion annually. A large and complicated body of rules and regulations govern those purchases, often in ways that aren’t intuitive, Scott Freling, the vice chair of government contracts at Covington & Burling LLP, said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast.

For example, he said, the government reserves the right to terminate any contract at any time and can audit or review the books and records of a contractor. And private parties that lose out in the bidding for a government contract can sue to challenge the decision.

Freling was first exposed to the practice as a clerk for Judge Susan G. Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, a body that often hears disputes related to government contracts.

He’s gone on to carve out a niche advising companies and private equity sponsors on deals for targets that derive significant revenue from the government, as he discusses on the podcast.

He worked with Advent International Corp. on its $6.4 billion purchase of Maxar Technologies Inc. last year, a deal Advent did with British Columbia Investment Management Corp., and with Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC-backed Peraton Corp. on its $7.1 billion purchase of Perspecta Inc. in 2021.

Check out the podcast with Scott Freling below:

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