Before entering into a contract, a member of the legal staff will make contact for a consultation regarding the services necessary to complete a current case. This consultation cannot be billed for, as a valid contract is required prior to billable services. Once your consultation is complete, a member of the office’s financial administrative staff will contact you with further details. The office is prohibited from using any contract other than Form AO 380. The AO 380 supersedes any other contractual agreement made with the office.

Members of the office’s financial staff are the only staff members who can engage in contractual agreements. Any contract not signed by a member of the office’s financial staff is not valid and no verbal agreements with anyone other than the financial staff will be considered valid. The office is not responsible for services performed without a signed contract provided by a financial staff member.  Members of the financial staff can be found here.

Send all invoices to FPDedVA_Invoices@fd.org. All payments are completed via Electronic Funds Transfers and will be received as a direct deposit into your bank account. The Federal Judiciary no longer issues payments via paper check.

The following guidelines must be adhered to when performing services and invoicing the office:

• Invoices cannot contain line items dated before the signature date on your contract or modification.
• Please copy FPDedva_invoices@fd.org on when emailing invoices to the legal team and local administrator.
• The office is prohibited from paying for any item or service that has not yet been received.
• Your contract is for an hourly rate and completed work must be invoiced in this manner.  Flat fees for services, or certain aspects of services, cannot be paid for.
• The office will not pay invoices that are greater than the contract "Not to Exceed" amount.  If additional services are requested by the office, then the contract amount can be increased through supplemental funding, upon approval.  Please ensure that your initial assessment of the hours needed is correct. Please inform the legal team, in advance, if you believe that you will require additional funding to complete the services requested.
• The contract language pertaining to the Not to Exceed amount, “which includes daily fees and expenses,” means that the office assumes that daily fees and expenses are calculated within your hourly rate.
• Please provide the email of any admin staff that should be included on any future emails to your office.
• Please ensure that the email entered on your AO 213, or on your SAM.gov profile, is monitored regularly.  When a payment is completed and paid via direct deposit, an email referencing that payment will be sent to that address.
• Please mark invoices that conclude your work on a case as “Final.”  Invoices for ongoing services should be marked “Interim.”
• See the Travel Guidelines section for details on travel and how it must be invoiced.

There is a four level approval process for invoice payments and while most payments are made and received in 10 business days from the time of receipt, payment should be expected within 30 calendar days of receipt. After 30 days have passed, please contact the financial administrator for further information.

If you are having an issue receiving payment, please contact Jeremy Leinen (703.600.0835, jeremy_leinen@fd.org)

When travel is necessary to perform your contracted services, it must be explicitly authorized in your contract. All travel must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Lodging, transportation, and food are not covered, under any circumstance, unless prior approval has been received from a member of the financial staff and explicit approval in your contact.
• Food items cannot be reimbursed unless there is an authorized overnight stay needed to complete your requested work.
• Receipts for food are required to be separate from lodging receipts and must be itemized.
• Mileage reimbursement can only be authorized for trips with one-way travel greater than 30.00 miles from your place of business, using Google Maps, taking the shortest distance. This is at the discretion of the Federal Public Defender and is not automatically included in funding or a contract, unless explicitly stated.
• Travel reimbursement costs are included in the “Not to Exceed” amount in the contract, and the office is not obligated to pay any amount in excess of the “Not to Exceed” ceiling stated in the contract.
• Mileage reimbursement cannot exceed the current government rate, found HERE
• Reimbursement for travel is for costs incurred, capped at the government rate, and receipts must be provided for all travel related items included on your invoice. The government rates for food and lodging vary depending on location, rates for specific locations can be found HERE

To ensure that your travel will be reimbursed, please consult with Jeremy Leinen (703.600.0835, jeremy_leinen@fd.org) prior to making any travel arrangements.

When contracting with the office, you are agreeing to act as our agent and employee for the purposes of the attorney-client privilege. In connection with your employment, all communications between you and our client, as well as communications between you and any attorney, agent, expert, or other employee acting on the behalf of the office be confidential and made solely for the purpose of assisting counsel and giving legal advice to the client.

All information about a case is considered confidential and written permission from the Federal Public Defender must be granted before sharing any such information with any third party, for any reason.