Government Contracts

  • August 21, 2025

    High Court Allows Trump Admin To Cancel $783M In NIH Grants

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to resume the mass termination of scientific grants, overturning rulings by lower courts that had kept the funds flowing to universities and other recipients. 

  • August 21, 2025

    Houston Urges Texas Justices To Reject Pappas Contract Row

    A lower appellate court got it right when it ruled that the city of Houston was shielded from a lawsuit over an airport concessions contract under the state's government code, the city told the Texas Supreme Court.

  • August 21, 2025

    Feds Claim Fla. Billing Co. Aided $15M Medicare Fraud

    The U.S. government urged a Florida federal judge to deny an outsourcing company's motion to toss a $15 million False Claims Act lawsuit, saying the business aided a Miami-based laboratory to fraudulently bill Medicare for genetic tests that weren't used to treat patients. 

  • August 21, 2025

    Guards Say DHS Contractor Can't Escape Wage Suit

    Employees of a contractor providing security at a U.S. Department of Homeland Security campus told a D.C. federal judge the company can't use a union agreement to escape allegations it's violating the district's wage and overtime laws.

  • August 21, 2025

    Gov't Shrugs Off Sentencing Errors, IRS Leaker Tells DC Circ.

    The IRS contractor appealing his five-year prison sentence for leaking thousands of wealthy people's tax returns to the media accused the U.S. of glossing over sentencing errors that unfairly burdened him with "the harshest sentence possible," he told the D.C. Circuit.

  • August 20, 2025

    Judge Grills Feds On Upending 30-Year Noncitizen Benefits

    A Rhode Island federal judge seemed perplexed Wednesday by a government attorney's contention that for nearly 30 years, various administrations across the political spectrum have wrongly interpreted a law the Trump administration now says requires immigration status checks for additional federal benefits.

  • August 20, 2025

    Wash. Seeks To Stop NOAA's Climate Change Grant Cuts

    The state of Washington is urging a Seattle federal judge to save more than $9.3 million in climate change resiliency funding that it claims is "on the chopping block" as the Trump administration moves to eliminate programming to promote environmental justice and reduce carbon emissions.

  • August 20, 2025

    Texas AG Says Chase Can't Recoup Failed $10M Project

    The Texas Office of the Attorney General on Wednesday asked the state's highest court to reject JPMorgan Chase Bank NA's attempt to get a city to continue to make payments on a botched $10 million project, saying such payments would run afoul of the Texas Constitution.

  • August 20, 2025

    Feds Lose Bid To Seal In Vax Patent Case Against Moderna

    The U.S. government has failed to show why names and contact information of certain U.S. Department of the Army employees should be hidden in an mRNA vaccine developer's $5 billion patent suit over Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines, a federal judge has found.

  • August 20, 2025

    Microsoft Fired Manager Despite Army Praise, Suit Says

    Microsoft removed a federal contract manager in Germany and later fired her after she pursued disability and retaliation claims, even as the U.S. Army expanded its contract with the company and praised her work, according to a complaint filed in Washington federal court.

  • August 20, 2025

    Chemours Says Injunction Appeal Warrants Stay Of CWA Suit

    Chemours urged a federal judge to pause a Clean Water Act suit while it appeals a preliminary injunction ordering it to stop its Washington Works plant from discharging excessive amounts of a "forever chemical" into the Ohio River.

  • August 20, 2025

    Insurers Say Gov't Misusing FCA To Get Medicare Cost Cap

    Insurers accused of paying brokers to steer customers to their Medicare Advantage plans asked a Massachusetts federal judge to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit, saying the government is mischaracterizing legal payments for marketing as kickbacks in an attempt to impose caps it has thus far been unable to obtain.

  • August 20, 2025

    CVS PBM Overbilling Judgment Trebled To $290M

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has increased threefold a judgment against CVS Caremark from $95 million to $290 million for overbilling Medicare Part D-sponsored drugs.

  • August 19, 2025

    9th Circ. Sides With Wash. In Immigration Detention Law Case

    A Ninth Circuit panel has overturned an injunction blocking a Washington state law calling for new health and safety standards at the state's privately run immigration detention center, saying Tuesday the lower court wrongly compared the facility to a prison when ruling in favor of its for-profit operator, GEO Group Inc.

  • August 19, 2025

    Texas Co., Exec To Pay $12.4M In Customs Evasion FCA Suit

    A Dallas-based countertop and cabinetry product supplier and its president agreed on Tuesday to pay more than $12.4 million to settle a False Claims Act suit alleging they conspired to evade import duties on quartz products from China, with more than $2.1 million designated for a whistleblower.

  • August 19, 2025

    Lab Owner Gets 3 Years For $40M COVID-19 Test Fraud

    A co-founder of a laboratory accused of submitting $40 million in unnecessary COVID-19 and genetic testing claims to healthcare benefit programs was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday, after a Florida federal judge credited him for the extensive cooperation he provided the government before and during a trial against his co-defendants.

  • August 19, 2025

    Nonprofits, Union Fight Withholding Of AmeriCorps Funds

    A group of nonprofits and a union added claims to their suit in Maryland federal court aiming to stop the Trump administration from dismantling AmeriCorps, accusing the Office of Management and Budget of unlawfully withholding millions of dollars appropriated by Congress for grant programs.

  • August 19, 2025

    $8M Lake Michigan Dock Damages Suit Sent To Florida

    A Michigan federal judge has said a Lake Michigan marine transportation company accusing Lockheed Martin Corp. and the U.S. Navy of causing more than $8 million of damage to its facility while testing a naval vessel must pursue the litigation in the Middle District of Florida.

  • August 19, 2025

    CMS Defeats 'Hair's Breadth' Star Rating Challenge

    Insurance companies challenging the "star" system for rating Medicare Advantage organizations have lost another round in court, with a Texas federal judge saying Elevance Health failed to show federal officials violated the law when rounding down scores.

  • August 19, 2025

    IRS Told To Explain Granting $142M Contract Without Bids

    The IRS must explain why it thinks an executive order mandating electronic tax payments required it to skip the competitive bidding process in awarding a $142 million contract for scanning and digitizing incoming tax filings, the Court of Federal Claims said.

  • August 19, 2025

    NASA Gets Sensor Co.'s Patent Deal Breach Claims Tossed

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge axed an Ohio company's claims that NASA breached contracts to license and commercialize the agency's patented sensor technology, ruling that NASA fulfilled its side of the bargain before ending the agreements.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

    The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

  • August 18, 2025

    OMB Says Agencies Can Cut Some Gov't Contract Requirements

    The Office of Management and Budget authorized federal agencies to immediately start eliminating requirements from future government contracts as part of the Trump administration's effort to get rid of non-statutory rules from the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

  • August 18, 2025

    9th Circ. Splits Over Ore.'s Denial Of Christian Youth Grants

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Monday largely upheld a lower court's refusal to preliminarily block Oregon's requirement that recipients of certain youth grants agree not to discriminate on the basis of religion, though it also said the rule is unconstitutional if it restricts any initiatives that aren't tied to the grants.

  • August 18, 2025

    GAO Says $868M Navy Contract Evaluation Was Not Unfair

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a Virginia company's protest of a $868 million U.S. Navy contract for information technology support services, saying there's no proof that an unlevel playing field influenced the agency's assessment of the protester's proposal.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.

  • ICSID Annulment Proceedings Carry High Stakes For System

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    The annulment proceedings brought by Freeport-McMoRan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking to redress a glaring and prejudicial oversight in its arbitral award against Peru, are significant for delimiting the boundaries of procedural fairness within the ICSID's annulment framework, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

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    As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Measuring The Scope Of COFC's Telesto Bid Protest Ruling

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    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims described its recent denial of bid protest jurisdiction in Telesto v. U.S. over other transaction agreements as a modest departure from prior decisions, but the holding also makes it difficult to distinguish between a follow-on procurement and a definitive agreement to proceed, say lawyers at Wiley.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    FCPA Shift Is A Good Start, But There's More DOJ Should Do

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines bring a needed course correction amid overexpansive enforcement, but there’s more the DOJ can do to provide additional clarity and predictability for global companies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • CARES Act Fraud Enforcement Is Unlikely To Slow Down

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    In the five years since the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the federal government has devoted massive resources to investigating CARES Act fraud — and all signs suggest the U.S. Department of Justice will continue vigorous enforcement in this area, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • 4 Precautions For Responsible AI Use In Bid Protests

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    Despite the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s May warning that it will impose stiff sanctions on bid protesters whose filings contain artificial intelligence-generated mistakes and hallucinations, generative AI can be a valuable tool for the bid protest bar if used with safeguards, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths

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    Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing

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    Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • 3 Rulings May Reveal Next Frontier Of Gov't Contract Cases

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    Several U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the past year — involving wire fraud, gratuities and obstruction — offer wide-ranging and arguably conflicting takeaways for government contractors that are especially relevant given the Trump administration’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • 9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

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    District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

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