Michael W. Mutek serves as Aerojet Rocketdyne's General Counsel, Defense. He has had experience in government contracts, corporate law, intelligence, and national security law. His practice spans the areas of government contracts, compliance and ethics, bid protests, claims, internal investigations and disclosures, formation and dissolution of teaming agreements, corporate law department management, and dispute resolution.
Prior to joining Aerojet, Michael Mutek was in the government contracts practice group at Steptoe & Johnson, LLP. Before that, Mr. Mutek served as the vice president and general counsel of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business, a $6 billion business unit of Raytheon Company. In this capacity, he was responsible for all the legal affairs of the business, and worked on several successful acquisitions in order to help create a cybersecurity business at Raytheon. During the 26 years Mr. Mutek spent at Raytheon, he held several other business unit general counsel and vice president positions, including vice president of contracts. In his early career, he served as senior trial attorney on the Air Force’s Trial Team.
Mr. Mutek is a frequent writer and lecturer on government contracts and corporate law topics, and has testified on government contract issues before Congress. He serves in the American Bar Association's (ABA's) House of Delegates and is a past Chair of the ABA's Section of Public Contract Law. Mr. Mutek also is a Fellow of the Section of Public Contract Law and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He chaired the ABA’s Services Contracting Best Practices Task Force, which published “Services Contracting Best Practices: A Guide to Successful Services Contracting.” He is the author of “Contractor Team Arrangements – Competitive Solution or Legal Liability: The Deskbook for Drafting Teaming Agreements,” which was also published by the ABA.
Representative Speaking Engagements
Presenter, “Is an Unenforceable Teaming Agreement a Valid FAR Team Arrangement?” ABA Public Contract Law Section Subcontracting,Teaming, and Strategic Alliances Committee, July 6, 2016
Moderator, “DCAA and Contractors: Ensuring Oversight while Recognizing Contractor Rights,” Public Contracting Institute, Grapevine, TX, October 29, 2016
Co-Moderator, ""Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" Rule," George Washington University Law School and the ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law, Washington, DC, October 8, 2015
Moderator, “It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Purchasing Function: Supply Chain Management Today,” Government Contracting in a Tech-Savvy World, ABA Section of Public Contract Law, Miami, October 31, 2014
Panelist, “What Are We Fighting For? Identifying and Resolving Common Subcontracting Issues,” ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, August 11, 2013
Panelist, “New Rules on Conflict of Interest: Are They Going to be Game-Changers or Just the Same Old Thing Wrapped Up in a Different Package?” Boards of Contract Appeals Bar Association, Washington DC, October 26, 2011
Moderator, “The Brave New World of OCI: Are You Ready?” Federal Procurement Institute, Annapolis, March 4, 2011
Panelist, “Preventing and Mitigating Organizational and Personal Conflicts of Interest,” American Conference Institute’s National Advanced Forum on Government Contracting Compliance and Ethics, Washington, DC, September 2009
Presenter, “Mandatory Cooperation: A Contradiction in Terms?” BCA Judges Association Annual Seminar, Alexandria, April 8, 2008
Selected Publications
- Author, “Contractor Team Arrangements – Competitive Solution or Legal Liability: The Deskbook for Drafting Teaming Agreements,” published by the American Bar Association
- Task Force Chair and Editor, “Service Contracting Best Practices: A Guide to Successful Services Contracting” published by the American Bar Association
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November 15, 2016, Law360
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November 15, 2016
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November 14, 2016
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November 10, 2016
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November 1, 2016
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October 31, 2016
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October 27, 2016
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October 17, 2016
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October 1, 2016
August 26, 2016
August 19, 2016
July 13, 2016
July 5, 2016
June 9, 2016
June 1, 2016
May 26, 2016
May 3, 2016
April 19, 2016
March 15, 2016
March 2, 2016
February 18, 2016
February 4, 2016
January 22, 2016
January 20, 2016
(4-part article) 2015, The Procurement Lawyer
December 2015, Thomson Reuters
November 17, 2015
October 8, 2015
Steptoe & Johnson LLP (contributor)
September 15, 2015
June 24, 2015, The Government Contractor
June 16, 2015
June 4, 2015
June 4, 2015
- “Government Concerns Over Contractor Team Formation: Is the Message Consistent?” The Procurement Lawyer, Winter 2005
- Implementation of Public-Private Partnering,” Public Contract Law Journal, Summer 2001
- “The Coalition for Ethics and Compliance Initiatives: Renewed Advocacy for Employee Confidentiality and Self-Evaluative Privileged," Co-author with Paul Fiorelli, The Procurement Lawyer, Winter 2001