Government Contracts Attorney
Former Acquisition Law Advisor to U.S. Army Special Operations Forces and Vice Chair of the Army JAG School’s Contract & Fiscal Law Department
Sara M. Tracy has spent her career advising commanders, contracting officers, acquisition professionals, and senior government leaders on the legal, fiscal, and strategic decisions that drive federal procurement in some of the most demanding environments in the world. Before entering private practice, Sara served 21 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, with 13 of those years as a Judge Advocate. She came to the law as a career officer, not the other way around — commissioning from West Point as a Signal Officer, deploying to Iraq in support of a three-star commander during the Iraq Surge, and bringing that technical and operational DNA into every legal assignment that followed.
As a Principal Deputy Command Judge Advocate within the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Sara served as the principal contract and fiscal law subject matter expert for a global special operations organization, advising on the full spectrum of classified contracting under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and the Special Operations Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (SOFARS) — the specialized acquisition regulation governing Special Operations Forces (SOF) procurement. She provided legal counsel in support of high-risk operations with strategic consequences, issuing precedent-setting analyses on complex fiscal and intelligence law matters requiring interagency coordination. Her interdisciplinary background — spanning acquisition, criminal, national security, intelligence, and administrative law — gives her a rare ability to spot where issues in one domain create risk in another.
She later served as the Chief of Administrative and Civil Law for XVIII Airborne Corps, advising Corps leadership on modernization initiatives across FAR-based procurements and non-traditional vehicles including OTAs, CRADAs, and SBIR programs. As Vice Chair of the Contract and Fiscal Law Department at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS), she educated and trained more than 6,000 attorneys, contracting professionals, and senior government leaders, and co-authored core chapters of the Army’s Contract and Fiscal Law Deskbooks.
Sara’s experience gives clients something rare: a lawyer who has sat on the government side of the table where procurement decisions are actually made. She knows how contracting officers think, what program managers worry about, how senior leaders assess risk, and what contractor behavior will create friction before it ever does. She is not a “no attorney.” When a yes isn’t possible, she finds the “no, but — here’s how we get there” — delivering practical, risk-informed courses of action that account for both legal and business interests while anticipating how the government customer will respond.
Today, Sara advises defense technology companies, contractors, and businesses engaged in the federal procurement system — from emerging non-traditionals navigating OTAs to seasoned businesses managing disputes in contract performance. Her practice spans the full acquisition lifecycle: pre-award solicitation review and RFP analysis, proposal strategy and review, post-award debriefings, bid protests, Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claims and equitable adjustments, OTA agreements and non-traditional acquisition strategies, FAR/DFARS/SOFARS compliance, fiscal law and appropriations compliance including the impacts of continuing resolutions and government shutdown funding gaps, procurement integrity, and contract administration. She engages early, advises practically, and stays in the fight through resolution.
Jurisdictions: Colorado (Active). Represents clients nationwide in federal government contracts, procurement, and acquisition matters.
Education: LL.M., Military Law, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School | J.D., University of Denver Sturm College of Law | B.S., International Relations, United States Military Academy at West Point