Contract Specialist Complete Practice Exam 2026

Patent infringement risk in government contracting is handled by shifting the risk to the contractor through indemnity provisions, not by automatically refusing an award. In practice, the government often awards a contract and then relies on contract clauses—such as a patent indemnity—that require the contractor to defend and cover the government against any patent-infringement claims arising from the item or its use. Agencies may also seek freedom-to-operate assurances or licensing arrangements as a condition of award, but a potential infringement is not, by itself, a disqualifying factor. The usual approach is to manage and allocate the risk contractually rather than to reject bids solely because infringement might occur. While there can be exceptional cases where infringement risk is unmitigable or indicates willful wrongdoing, that is not the general rule.