Government Contracts

  • April 13, 2026

    Inventors Face Bayh-Dole Act Reporting Issues, GAO Says

    Universities and businesses that hold onto patent rights after receiving federal funds for developing the inventions have pointed to problems with the reporting requirements, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

  • April 13, 2026

    Judge Quizzes Feds On Outsourcing College Data Survey

    A Boston federal judge on Monday questioned the Trump administration's plan to lean on a contractor to handle college admissions data as the U.S. Department of Education shrinks itself, asking a government lawyer if it was "lawful" to outsource the work.

  • April 13, 2026

    Abbott Urges Toss Of Relator, State Suits In FCA Recall Row

    Abbott Laboratories urged a Michigan federal court to throw out litigation brought by whistleblowers and a group of states over the 2022 infant formula shortage, saying their respective complaints lacked the details necessary to support claims that it defrauded numerous healthcare programs.

  • April 13, 2026

    University Stiffed Energy Firm On Audit Work, Suit Says

    An energy firm says the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs refused to pay for years of completed audit work, raising objections only after the final report was delivered and invoices came due, according to a suit filed in Colorado state court.

  • April 13, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Court Backs School Aid Waiver Requirement

    A Michigan state appeals court has upheld a school safety funding provision requiring schools to waive certain privileges after a mass casualty event, rejecting constitutional challenges brought by a coalition of nearly 40 school districts and officials. 

  • April 13, 2026

    GAO Denies Protest Of Mess Hall Services Contract Add-On

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a protest from a services provider, finding a revision that added food hall staffing for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point did not fall outside the scope of the original contract.

  • April 13, 2026

    Akin Hires Navy Strategic Systems Counsel In DC

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has hired a former counsel from the Navy office responsible for developing, producing and maintaining nuclear missiles fired from the sea, the firm announced Monday.

  • April 13, 2026

    Wash., Detainees Urge High Court To Reject GEO Wage Appeal

    The state of Washington and a class of immigration detainees urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject GEO Group's bid to overturn a Ninth Circuit ruling requiring the prison operator to pay Washington's minimum wage to detainee workers, filing separate briefs arguing the decision does not merit further review.

  • April 10, 2026

    IBM To Pay $17M Over DOJ's Claims Of Illegal DEI Practices

    IBM agreed to pay the Trump administration $17 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act with efforts to increase the diversity of its workforce, which the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday said was the first settlement under its initiative against diversity, equity and inclusion.

  • April 10, 2026

    Colo. Transport Co. Says Termination Lacked Due Process

    A medical transportation company that provided transportation services for Medicaid users in Denver asked a Colorado state judge to reverse a termination of its services from the state, claiming the statute used to issue the termination against the company is unconstitutional.

  • April 10, 2026

    Drone Co. Aevex Eyes $312M IPO Amid Defense Tech Surge

    Drone-maker Aevex Corp. on Thursday announced plans for an estimated $312 million initial public offering steered by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team as well as Latham & Watkins LLP advising the underwriters.

  • April 10, 2026

    4th Circ. Backs $4.5M Award In US Embassy Renovation Fight

    The Fourth Circuit Friday enforced a nearly $4.5 million arbitral award issued to a Danish subcontractor enlisted on a renovation project for the U.S. Embassy building in Copenhagen, saying the award did not violate U.S. public policy by failing to apply U.S. contracting rules.

  • April 10, 2026

    BAE Says Manager's DEI Concerns Aren't Why He Was Fired

    BAE Systems urged a Maryland federal court Friday to toss a former manager's claims that he was fired for critiquing its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, arguing it was instead because he was "rude, dismissive and disrespectful, particularly toward women."

  • April 10, 2026

    Ed. Dept. Urges Judge Not To Broaden Admissions Data Block

    The Trump administration is urging a Massachusetts federal judge not to expand his order blocking the U.S. Department of Education's collection of detailed college admissions data for several states' public institutions to cover additional schools, including private colleges.

  • April 10, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Instrument Monitoring Patent Claims

    The Federal Circuit on Friday said it won't revive claims in a Sentient Sensors military instruments monitoring patent after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that the claims were invalid as obvious.

  • April 10, 2026

    Oil Co. Says Chevron Can't Stall $24M Suit For Arbitration

    A Venezuelan oil services provider has asked a Texas federal judge to deny Chevron Corp.'s push to pause a $24 million payment dispute suit for arbitration, characterizing the energy giant's arguments as "nonsense" based on mischaracterizations.

  • April 10, 2026

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.

  • April 09, 2026

    Rivera's Ex-Partner Kept Cut Of $50M Venezuela Contract

    Real estate developer and convicted drug trafficker Hugo Perera told jurors Thursday he regretted "1,000%" getting involved with former U.S. Rep. David Rivera in a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company but admitted he kept his $5 million cut of the deal.

  • April 09, 2026

    Swiss Firm Says Clause Required Zurich Hospital Arbitration

    A D.C. federal judge is being called upon to again enforce a roughly $8.6 million arbitral award issued against Equatorial Guinea in a dispute over an ill-fated hospital operating contract, months after his initial enforcement ruling was overturned by the D.C. Circuit.

  • April 09, 2026

    Australian Court Affirms India's Immunity In $112M Award Suit

    Australia's highest court has upheld that India has sovereign immunity in an enforcement case involving a $112 million arbitral award issued in a dispute over a terminated deal to deliver communications services in the country.

  • April 09, 2026

    Irish Mallinckrodt Unit Stuck In Drug Price-Fixing Suit

    An Irish entity of drugmaker Mallinckrodt waited too long to seek dismissal of a price-fixing lawsuit brought by states based on a lack of personal jurisdiction or proper service, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled, finding that the company first raised that argument more than five years after the complaint was filed.

  • April 09, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Army Refund Over $73M Hangar Contract

    A contractor must refund the U.S. Army roughly $494,000 under a nearly $73 million hangar contract after the Army deleted certain requirements, the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday, rejecting the contractor's position that performing the contract was already impossible.

  • April 09, 2026

    Calif. AI Guardrails Split From Feds, Other States May Follow

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent executive order directing state agencies to implement guardrails for contracting with artificial intelligence companies marks a rift with the Trump administration's deregulatory approach that could proliferate across other states.

  • April 09, 2026

    DOJ Calls Immigrant Legal Aid Wasteful In Budget Push

    Tucked into the Trump administration's budget request for fiscal 2027, the U.S. Department of Justice is trying once again to take an ax to a program that provides legal assistance to noncitizens.

  • April 09, 2026

    Baker Botts Hires Int'l Development Finance Corp. Leader

    Baker Botts LLP has hired an attorney who has worked at the center of the U.S. agency responsible for investing in developing countries as its top attorney, who has joined the firm as a senior counsel in Washington, D.C.

Expert Analysis

  • Defense Contractor Tips For Commercial Solutions Openings

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    Defense contractors interested in participating in the Army’s recently announced commercial solutions opening should familiarize themselves with the process, which promotes flexibility but requires prudence in preparing proposals, negotiating award terms, and crafting supporting documents such as teaming agreements and subcontracts, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Artemis II Highlights Earthbound Employment Law Risks

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    The recent Artemis II launch marks a milestone in human spaceflight and expanding commercial participation, but as companies race to the stars, their compliance practices must address the workforce needs on the ground, as extraordinary operational achievements will be evaluated under ordinary legal standards, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • Trump Order Signals Tougher Benefits Fraud Probes

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    A recent order from President Donald Trump establishing a federal taskforce for addressing fraud in federally funded benefit programs emphasizes interagency information sharing, potentially affecting a broad range of areas including government contracts, administrative law considerations and False Claims Act cases, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Justices' Review Of Guam Case Will Mean For Permitting

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    In U.S. Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether a federal agency's permit application is a final decision that courts can review — a question whose answer could reshape the timing and strategy of environmental litigation across the federal permitting landscape, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

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    The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Ohio Case Reflects States' Aggressive Criminal Antitrust Turn

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    The Ohio Attorney General's Office’s recent bid-rigging indictment of an online auctioneer is the latest signal that states, through attorneys general pursuing more kickback cases and legislators expanding the reach of antitrust laws, are shedding their historical reluctance to wield their criminal antitrust enforcement powers, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • How Justices' GEO Ruling Resets Gov't Contractor Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent GEO Group v. Menocal decision, holding that government contractors cannot immediately exit cases via interlocutory appeals, may increase litigation costs, strengthen plaintiffs' leverage in settlement negotiations and dampen the government's ability to attract bids on high-risk or sensitive projects, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • New DOD Framework Offers Key Guidance On PFAS Disposal

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    The U.S. Department of Defense's recently updated guidance on disposal of materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ends its moratorium on incineration of PFAS-containing waste, but contractors must be ready to demonstrate stringent compliance with the department's new permitting system, operational controls and data practices, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

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    Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

  • Proactive Risk Allocation Reduces Infrastructure Disputes

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    Recent wrangling between federal and state officials over the Gateway Program illustrates how quickly funding and project governance disputes can disrupt significant public infrastructure initiatives — and highlights that the way risks are contractually allocated can determine whether disagreements are resolved efficiently or lead to costly delays, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

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