Government Contracts

  • January 23, 2025

    4th Circ. Reads Kickback Law Broadly In Loss For Big Pharma

    The Fourth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a Virginia federal judge's ruling against a pharmaceuticals industry-backed charity looking to weaken the Anti-Kickback Statute, holding that a proposed program for helping patients cover the cost of drugs could indeed constitute a quid pro quo.

  • January 23, 2025

    Fox Raises Specter Of Corruption In LA's Smartmatic Contract

    Fox News has filed a public records lawsuit suggesting that Los Angeles County officials may have taken bribes to award a 2020 election contract to Smartmatic, the voting technology company currently pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation suit over Fox's coverage of that election.

  • January 23, 2025

    DOD Watchdog Finds Audits Didn't Follow Required Standards

    A U.S. Department of Defense watchdog has said a limited review of incurred-cost audits completed by commercial, nonfederal auditors brought on to help clear a backlog found the auditors did not fully comply with federal government auditing standards in about two-thirds of the audits.

  • January 23, 2025

    GAO Says DOD Should Improve Modular Open Systems Use

    The U.S. Department of Defense is not properly considering a modular open systems approach to designing weapons systems, despite recent legislation requiring it do so "to the maximum extent practicable," the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday.

  • January 23, 2025

    Ex-Police Chief Defamed Protester With Gang Claim, Suit Says

    Atlanta's ex-police chief faces a renewed defamation suit over comments he made during a 2020 press conference to address arrests made at a Black Lives Matter protest, in which he allegedly accused one arrestee of being a violent gang member.

  • January 23, 2025

    Home Health Agency Operator Gets 12 Years For $100M Fraud

    The former operator of a Massachusetts home healthcare agency convicted of fraud last summer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $100 million in restitution to the state's Medicaid program.

  • January 23, 2025

    FTC Chair's 1st Act: Ending 'Scourge' Of DEI

    Andrew N. Ferguson made his first public act as the Federal Trade Commission's new Republican chairman Wednesday by ordering the end of all agency diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and declaring that the "scourge" of DEI is over at the FTC.

  • January 23, 2025

    Senate Energy Committee Greenlights Energy, Interior Picks

    A U.S. Senate energy panel on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump's nominees to lead the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior, setting them up for confirmation by the full Senate.

  • January 23, 2025

    Calif. Appeals Court Backs Apprentice Work Regulations

    A California appeals court refused to reinstate a challenge from several employer associations seeking to strike down new regulations governing how apprentices can spend their time working, saying the California Apprenticeship Council was in the clear to promulgate the new rules.

  • January 22, 2025

    'Unicorn Prosecution' Could Upend Legal Practice, Court Told

    Brown & Connery LLP partner William Tambussi told a New Jersey state judge Wednesday that the entire practice of law in the Garden State rests on his impending decision on the charges against him in the state's sweeping racketeering case targeting power broker George E. Norcross III, arguing that a lawyer has never been prosecuted for routine legal work.

  • January 22, 2025

    Vanda Loses Takings Clause Arguments In Trade Secret Fight

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has held that specifications on how fast Vanda Pharmaceuticals' drugs dissolve do not count as property interest under the Fifth Amendment, handing a loss to the pharmaceutical company in its trade secrets case against the federal government.

  • January 22, 2025

    GAO Says Army Corps Reasonably Rejected Contractor's Bid

    The Government Accountability Office has rejected a Georgia-based construction contractor's challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of its building repair contract proposal, saying the agency reasonably deemed the contractor's project labor agreement to be insufficient.

  • January 22, 2025

    $1.3B India Telecom Award Can't Be Enforced, Justices Told

    A commercial division of India's space agency is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a Ninth Circuit ruling refusing to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award issued to an Indian satellite communications company, arguing that the circuit court's determination of technical jurisdictional issues was correct.

  • January 22, 2025

    Ga. Tech Says Gov't Hasn't Shown Cybersecurity False Claims

    The Georgia Institute of Technology has pushed for dismissal of a False Claims Act suit accusing it of knowingly violating U.S. Department of Defense cybersecurity standards, saying the government hadn't adequately explained how those rules apply to the university.

  • January 22, 2025

    Sotomayor Halts 2nd Circ. Ruling In Landmark Graft Case

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor halted a decision from the Second Circuit on Wednesday that would have set up a second trial against four men whose convictions were overturned in a landmark 2023 high court ruling in which the justices narrowed certain types of public corruption cases.

  • January 22, 2025

    Feds Trim Spine-Implant Kickback Case Ahead Of Trial

    A Massachusetts federal judge has granted a motion by prosecutors to drop bribery charges against a maker of spinal implant devices and whittle down the case against two of its former executives.

  • January 22, 2025

    Connell Foley Fights DQ Bid In Investment Firm's Bias Suit

    A group of current and former New Jersey state officials blasted a motion to disqualify their counsel at Connell Foley LLP in a discrimination suit from a Black-owned investment firm in New Jersey federal court, calling the move a frivolous and bad faith stalling tactic.

  • January 22, 2025

    Judge Cans Biden Order Supporting Union Contractors

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has invalidated a 2022 executive order by then-President Joe Biden requiring contractors to work with unions to be considered for federal construction projects over $35 million, saying the mandate "stifles competition."

  • January 22, 2025

    Trump Defangs Labor Dept.'s Contractor Bias Watchdog

    President Donald Trump eliminated on Tuesday a core legal authority from the 1960s that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs used to stop federal contractors from discriminating against workers, part of a broader salvo against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in employment.

  • January 21, 2025

    What Gov't Contractors Must Know About Trump Exec Actions

    President Donald Trump's flood of executive orders following his inauguration included a number of measures targeted at or broadly affecting federal contractors, such as lifting Biden administration antidiscrimination and climate change-related requirements and restarting border wall construction.

  • January 21, 2025

    Navy, Tetra Tech Strike $97M Deal Over Navy Cleanup Work

    The U.S. Navy and a Tetra Tech unit have reached two settlements amounting to $97 million, resolving claims the subsidiary billed the Navy for radiation remediation services at a former Navy shipyard in San Francisco that it did not actually perform.

  • January 21, 2025

    Colo. City Blocking Fiber Co. For Own Benefit, Suit Says

    Colorado's second-biggest city has been denying a fiber internet company access to its utility easements because it doesn't want it competing with the city's own internet service, Metronet claims in a new lawsuit.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Installs New Prisons Chief, Revives Private Facilities

    President Donald Trump made sweeping changes to the criminal justice system in his first hours in office, including replacing the Federal Bureau of Prisons director brought in under the Biden administration and ending former President Joe Biden's plan to phase out privately run federal prisons.

  • January 21, 2025

    CNN Inks Post-Verdict Deal In Contractor's Defamation Suit

    CNN settled a defamation lawsuit just hours after a Florida jury awarded $5 million in compensatory damages to a U.S. Navy veteran turned private defense contractor who sued the network for defamation over a report on the evacuation of Afghans in 2021.

  • January 21, 2025

    Water Main Co. Will Pay $1M After Connecticut Fish Kill

    A water main cleaning company has waived indictment and admitted to a federal charge that it discharged a pollutant into a Connecticut brook while refurbishing a culvert pipe in 2019, causing the deaths of more than 150 fish, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Expert Analysis

  • How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors

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    The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration

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    As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Perils Of Perfunctory Interpretation

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    Attorneys at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions in which the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the Federal Circuit ruthlessly dismantled arguments that rely on superficial understandings of different contract terms.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • Opinion

    Justices Should Squash Bid To Criminalize Contract Breaches

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    In Kousisis v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court should reject the sweeping legal theory that breaches of contract can satisfy the property element of the mail and wire fraud statutes, which, if validated, would criminalize an array of ordinary conduct and violate basic constitutional principles, say attorneys at The Norton Law Firm.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

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    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • Opinion

    Weak Reasoning Underlies Fla. Judge's Bold Qui Tam Ruling

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    U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle's groundbreaking decision in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates LLC, holding that qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are unconstitutional, relies on weak logic to reach a conclusion that differs from every other court that has ruled on the issue, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • Medicare Overpayment Rules Are A Mixed Bag For Providers

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    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' updated rules for handling agency overpayments adopt a more reasonable definition of what it means to have "identified" an overpayment, which is a win for providers, but their new time frame for investigating related overpayments is unrealistic, says Susan Banks at Holland & Knight.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Unclear Criteria, Data Rights, Conflicts

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    Liam Bowers at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims examining the use of unstated evaluation criteria, an agency's investigation of its own data rights and unequal access to information about an organizational conflict of interest.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • In Terror Case, DC Circ. Must Weigh Justices' Twitter Ruling

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    When the D.C. Circuit hears oral argument in AstraZeneca UK v. Atchley, how the court interprets the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh will have a significant impact on future claims brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress

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    As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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