We are pleased to announce that, on September 1st, Vincent Buonocore, Esq. joined the team!
Vince comes to us from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) where he served as the Senior Information Technology Procurement Counsel, co-located with the Technology Acquisition Center (TAC). In that capacity, he supervised a staff of 18 attorneys located in Eatontown, NJ and Austin, TX, supporting all IT related programs within the agency. He personally acted as counsel on all major VA IT acquisitions from 2010 through his retirement from Federal Service in August 2016 including the multi-billion dollar “Total Technology Transformation Twenty-One” (T4) and T4 Next Generation procurements. Under his supervision, the TAC obtained favorable outcomes in more than 70 Government Accountability Office (GAO) or Court of Federal Claims protests, while successfully awarding approximately $20B in contracts, earning him the Department’s Exemplary Service Award earlier this year.
Prior to joining VA, Vince served 26 years with the Department of the Army, first as a commissioned Judge Advocate Officer, then as a civilian contracts attorney with the U.S. Army CECOM, Fort Monmouth, NJ. From 2009 to 2010, he served as Acting CECOM Chief Counsel, managing the practice of 60 CECOM attorneys and Patent Advisors across four geographic locations, and served as the final authority on all legal matters pertaining to CECOM and other resident activities, to include acquisition and litigation strategies. The office supported an Army IT research, development and acquisition activity, comprised of over 5,000 personnel, which sustained more than half of the Army’s fielded inventory, and awarded over $19B in any given fiscal year. The practice included major complex pre- and post-award contractual matters, including formal best value source selections, GAO protests, Board or Contract Appeals/Federal Court litigation, environmental, ethics, fiscal, intellectual property, public sector Labor/EEO, Freedom of Information/Privacy Act, and operational and administrative law. During his tenure, Vince managed every aspect of office operations, and served as counsel to the Source Selection Authority (SSA) on all major source selections being conducted by the Command; the senior Command Ethics Advisor; and Initial Denial Authority on all Freedom of Information Act requests.
Prior to his assignment as Acting Chief Counsel, Vince served as Deputy to the Chief Counsel, and was responsible for all aspects of the Command’s involvement in Homeland Security, in particular, mechanisms for assisting non-Federal antiterrorism efforts including crafting guidance for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy that would permit non-Federal authorities to utilize Department of Defense contracts to acquire antiterrorism technologies. He assisted in fashioning cooperative research and development agreements with non-Federal authorities, including the State of New Jersey and Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, to facilitate exporting communications-electronics technology in support of such efforts. Further, during his Army tenure, Vince provided comprehensive legal support to the Army’s Night Vision Laboratory, Counter Mine, and Mobile Electric Power operations.
During his Army career, Vince was honored with numerous awards, including the Army Decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service, the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and being named Army Materiel Command’s Joyce I. Allen Attorney of the Year (2001) and Francis J. Buckley, Jr. Manager of the Year (2008).
Vince was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant upon his graduation from the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s School in 1984. He earned his BA in History/Political Science from Fordham University in 1979 and his JD from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in 1982. His articles on Procurement Fraud and Board of Contract Appeals practice have appeared in The Army Lawyer. He was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 2011.
Welcome aboard Vince!
