Biography
NASA’s Boeing 757 Research Aircraft
Jeremy Welts began the practice of law following graduation from William & Mary Law School in 1986. He initially worked as an associate attorney in commercial litigation for a law firm in New England until 1989, when he was hired by NASA Langley Research Center as an Attorney Advisor. At NASA Langley, his work included advising on general law issues (procurement, construction, FOIA, tort, and fraud) serving as counsel to source evaluation boards, source selection officials, and litigation counsel in procurement-related activities and tort defense. Among his major accomplishments while at NASA, Jeremy developed and implemented an innovative procurement strategy to replace a 30 year old Boeing 737 research aircraft with a state of the art Boeing 757 aircraft at a significant cost savings ($17.5 million) to NASA; he served as Lead Agency counsel for all major NASA Langley Research Center litigation before the GSBCA (3 protests), NASA BCA (5 appeals), General Accounting Office (5 protests), U.S. Claims Court (1 case), and U.S. District Court (1 case), achieving a 100% success rate; and negotiated, drafted, and implemented Technology Reinvestment Project agreements on behalf of the Advanced Research Projects Agency with industry consortia for transfer of defense technology to civilian applications.
Jeremy left NASA in 1995 to join the department of Navy Office of General Counsel as a Senior Trial Attorney. While at Navy, he served as a trial attorney with the joint Department of Navy/Department of Justice A-12 Litigation Team, in the case McDonnell Douglas Corporation and General Dynamics Corporation v. United States, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Docket No. 91–1204C. At the time, this was the largest contract claim ever filed against the United States Government. During his tenure in the A-12 Litigation, Jeremy took and defended dozens of depositions; prepared a large portion of the Team’s case regarding non-conforming manufactured composite aircraft parts; and supervised and coordinated electronic legal research facilities for the joint trial team.
Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse – Phoenix, AZ
Following his time on the A-12 Litigation Team, Jeremy was appointed Senior Assistant General Counsel with the U. S. General Services Administration (GSA), beginning in 1998. He served primarily in the Real property Division, where he analyzed and defended construction and lease-related claims against the GSA; developed and implemented litigation strategies; prepared and presented the Agency’s position at numerous trials; prepared and led settlement negotiations in Alternative Dispute Resolution settings; assisted Department of Justice attorneys before the Court of Federal Claims and various bankruptcy courts; and provided counsel to high-profile ongoing construction projects and Agency Senior Management. Among his accomplishments at GSA, Jeremy served as lead counsel on 49 cases and co-counsel on 3 cases with claims totaling overall $610,683,384; prosecuted 27 cases with claims totaling $159,477,622 to judicial determination, resulting in total judgments of $577,958 (losses paid to claims made ratio of .36%); prepared and presented 22 cases with claims totaling $249,606,391 in ADR or direct negotiation settings, resulting in total settlements of $57,332,755 (settlement paid to claims made ratio of 22.58%); designed and implemented a pilot program to provide risk management support for ongoing major construction projects; planned, prepared, and presented training and informational seminars before in-house, agency-wide, and private sector audiences; and trained and mentored entry-level attorneys, focusing particularly on risk assessment, trial preparation, and trial skills
Carl Stokes Federal Courthouse – Cleveland, OH
In 2006, Jeremy joined the nationally-ranked law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, as a Senior Attorney. While at Bradley Arant, he provided direct consultation, analysis and assistance for clients and counsel relating to wide range of government procurement issues, including: negotiating resolution of government contract issues; reviewing and responding to federal and state RFP’s; reviewing proposed subcontracting and teaming arrangements and assisting clients in negotiating terms; evaluating rights and obligations under software license agreements; advising clients on small business issues (including subcontracting, size determinations, mentor/protégé agreements, and joint ventures); evaluating and mitigating organizational conflicts of interest; implementing FAR business ethics requirements; representing clients in bid protests (as intervenor and protestor); evaluating and preparing challenges to DCAA audit and CAS compliance issues; negotiating lease extensions and terminations; negotiating contract terminations; assisting clients in preparing documentation for award of GSA Schedule contracts; and government leasing. In addition, he provided legal and factual analysis, strategic planning, and legal writing to firm counsel for the presentation and resolution of federal contractor claims before agencies, boards of contract appeals, and federal courts.
Just prior to his retirement in January 2014, Jeremy served as Assistant District Counsel for the Middle East District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was responsible for assisting the Corps in successfully awarding and administering construction contracts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. He served as primary counsel for the District in GAO protests, ASBCA Appeals, and presented several internal training seminars on issues such as construction contract bonding, effective source evaluation and selection, and effective solicitation drafting. He also served as counsel to the product delivery team and source evaluation board for the solicitation, evaluation, source selection and awards of a $3.8 billion multiple award task order program serving construction efforts throughout the entire Middle East. While at the Middle East District, he was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Award Medal twice and was recognized as the Attorney of the Year for both 2011 and 2012.
Old San Juan Post Office and Courthouse
In addition to his legal work, Jeremy presents training courses, seminars, and workshops in many facets of government contracting and commercial litigation. He conducts training sessions tailored to provide specific content relevant to his client’s business lines, strategies, and goals, focusing in most areas of government contracting on regional and international levels.
He has presented training seminars for a large number of private and public sector entities, to include: 3M; American Water; Army Contracting Command; Army Material Command; Arnold Engineering Development Center; Orbital/ATK Small Caliber Systems; BAE Systems; Bradley Arant Boult Cummings; BWX Technologies; The CENTECH Group; Cherokee Nation Businesses; Central Intelligence Agency; Chugach Government Services; Defense Acquisition University; Defense Contract Management Agency; Defense Logistics Agency; Department of Agriculture; Department of Defense Education Activity; Department of Transportation; District of Columbia Contract Appeals Board; DRS Technologies; DynCorp International; Exelis; Federal Aviation Administration; Fluor Corporation; Goodrich Landing Gear Systems; Internal Revenue Service; Joint Special Operations University; Lockheed Martin; Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism; NASA; National Reconnaissance Agency; National Strategic Petroleum Reserve; Naval Air Systems Command; NOAA; Pearson VUE; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Rebuilding Afghanistan Summit; The Royal Saudi Ministry of Defense; The Smithsonian; United Technologies; and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
On a personal level, Jeremy is a classically-trained musician who enjoyed a career as a professional musician with the U.S. Army from 1971 – 1981. After the Army, he attended Christopher Newport University where he earned his B.A. in English and History before going to law school. He has been active in his community as a Zoning Board member, Board member for several arts and humanities organizations (local symphony orchestras; art education studios; children’s homes; church outreach committee) and, more recently, as a Boy Scout leader. Jeremy also contributed significant pro bono legal services in support of the Save the Chimps Foundation, resulting in the release of seven chimps from governmental experimentation.