How A New Era In Antitrust Enforcement May Impact Government Contractors

With a new presidential administration promising vigorous antitrust enforcement, and a new Democratic majority in Congress seeking to make drastic changes to U.S. antitrust laws, the technology and healthcare industries have found themselves the main targets of increased antitrust scrutiny.  Though companies engaging in government contracting, particularly in the aerospace and defense industries, already have had to deal with a range of antitrust issues - for example, the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (the "DOJ") launched the Procurement Collusion Strike Force ("PCSF") in 2019 (discussed in more detail here), which focused on "deterring, detecting, investigating and prosecuting antitrust crimes . in government procurement, grant and program funding" - they may find themselves subject to increased antitrust enforcement in 2021.  In fact, on February 23, 2021 PCSF Director Daniel Glad confirmed he is "focus[ed] on three things in 2021: expanding our