Government Contracts

  • October 10, 2024

    Okla. LLC Wants GSA Office Lease Award Nixed

    An Oklahoma-based company urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to order the U.S. government to vacate and reevaluate a 15-year Ohio office lease award that it gave to another company.

  • October 10, 2024

    Teva To Pay $450M To Settle Kickback Cases

    Pharmaceutical giant Teva will pay $450 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by fixing the prices of several generic drugs and by raising the price of a multiple sclerosis treatment while covering Medicare recipients' copays, civil prosecutors said Thursday.

  • October 10, 2024

    Sanctioned Afghan Officials Drop Suit For Treasury's Review

    Two former Afghan lawmakers withdrew their lawsuit challenging the financial and immigration restrictions they face in the U.S., while the U.S. Department of Treasury considers a request to remove the sanctions.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ex-Defense CEO Pleads Guilty To $12M Contract Fund Theft

    The former CEO of a defense contractor has pled guilty to his role in a scheme to steal $12.1 million in payments from a U.S. Air Force autonomous technology contract to cover unrelated expenses, including executives' personal expenses.

  • October 10, 2024

    Feds Say 'Buy America' Waiver In Train Project Should Stand

    The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration is urging a D.C. federal court to toss a suit alleging it wrongly waived "Buy America" requirements for a Las Vegas high-speed train project, arguing the plaintiff vendor hasn't shown it would have won the contract if the waiver hadn't been granted.

  • October 09, 2024

    Fed. Circ. May Need To Fix Contractor Registration Dilemma

    Two opposing Court of Federal Claims decisions regarding when a strict registration requirement applies to federal contractors have opened up a clash that could require the Federal Circuit's intervention to be resolved.

  • October 09, 2024

    Peruvian Telecom Co. Looks To Nix $168M Award Suit

    A Peruvian state-owned telecom is diving into D.C. federal court to tell the judge overseeing the arbitration enforcement proceedings against it that he has no right to issue a $168 million order commanding the company to pay up.

  • October 09, 2024

    Repeat Whistleblowing Led To Firing, Ex-Sikorsky Worker Alleges

    A Connecticut man who describes himself as a "well-known" whistleblower at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. says he was illegally terminated for reporting alleged wage and hour and environmental violations to government authorities, claiming the helicopter manufacturer fired him using bogus allegations he broke into an office he was given clearance to access.

  • October 09, 2024

    Lima Urges DC Circ. To Ax $200M Awards To Ex-Odebrecht Co.

    The Peruvian city of Lima has urged the D.C. Circuit to vacate $200 million in arbitration awards secured by a former subsidiary of "corrupt" Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht over a failed toll road construction contract, calling the construction giant "an inveterate worldwide briber."

  • October 09, 2024

    Court Affirms Waste Management Win In 'Titans Of Trash' Spat

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a win for Waste Management Inc. of Florida Inc. in a dispute with Bergeron Environmental and Recycling LLC over a joint venture to provide municipal trash pickup services and said the agreement's jury trial waiver was valid.

  • October 09, 2024

    State Action Doesn't Mean State Monopoly OK, Airline Says

    A Northern Mariana Islands airline urged a federal court Tuesday to preserve antitrust claims accusing a rival of using an $8 million government COVID-19 relief contract to drive it out of business, arguing the government contract doesn't convey immunity from monopolization allegations.

  • October 09, 2024

    NYC Housing Bribe Case Is 'Guilt By Association,' Jury Told

    Counsel for a New York City public housing superintendent accused of taking nearly $38,000 in bribes told a Manhattan federal jury Wednesday that the defendant is a victim of "guilt by association," kicking off the first trial after an antibribery sweep saw 70 people charged.

  • October 09, 2024

    Mozambique Targets Heirs Over 'Tuna Bond' Bribery Award

    Mozambique urged a London court on Wednesday to hold the heirs of shipbuilding magnate Iskandar Safa liable for the French-Lebanese billionaire's involvement in a bribery scheme as the country seeks to enforce a $1.9 billion damages award.

  • October 08, 2024

    Texas Looks To Sink Suit Challenging Anti-ESG Law

    Texas officials have asked a federal court to toss claims brought against them over a law restricting state investments with financial firms and businesses that want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, arguing they have sovereign immunity and the law doesn't violate the First Amendment.

  • October 08, 2024

    Military Health Plans Deny They Were Overpaid On DOD Deal

    Five military healthcare plan providers have asked the Maine federal court to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice's claims that they were overpaid for healthcare services, arguing they were paid exactly what they were owed under their fixed-price contracts.

  • October 08, 2024

    Ropes & Gray Attys Chided For Wielding Excessive Footnotes

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday struck a summary judgment motion penned by Ropes & Gray LLP lawyers representing Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a challenge to the government's interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, finding that the filing improperly employed "excessive" footnotes to circumvent page limitations.

  • October 08, 2024

    Jackson, Kagan Target Loper Bright In Ghost Gun Case

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was uncharacteristically quiet during initial arguments Tuesday over the federal government's authority to regulate ghost guns. While her colleagues debated whether kits of unassembled parts qualify as firearms, she waited patiently to post a different question: Can courts now toss agency interpretations they don't like?

  • October 08, 2024

    GOP, Trade Groups Urge 6th Circ. To Void Highway GHG Rule

    Republican lawmakers and construction trade groups are urging the Sixth Circuit to snuff out for good a U.S. Department of Transportation rule requiring states to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from federally funded highway projects.

  • October 08, 2024

    Fulton County Sues Over Ga. Board's 'Hand-Picked' Monitors

    Yet another front has opened in the fight over Georgia election law in the run-up to November, as the election board of the state's largest county sued its statewide counterparts over the attempt to impose a set of "hand-picked" monitors tasked with surveilling the county's performance.

  • October 08, 2024

    Judge Clarifies Contentious Registration Rule For Contractors

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims clarified that a contentious registration requirement for federal contractors only kicks in when they submit final proposals in response to government solicitations, blessing a previously disqualified business' $45 billion nuclear cleanup deal.

  • October 08, 2024

    1st Circ. Warned Not To 'Speculate' In Union Debt Ceiling Suit

    A lawyer for a governmental workers' union challenging the constitutionality of the federal debt limit told a First Circuit panel on Tuesday that a January default is a virtual certainty under existing law, and urged the judges to avoid trying to predict whether President Joe Biden and a lame-duck Congress might extend the ceiling.

  • October 08, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Constitutional Rights Fears Top October

    Constitutional challenges dominate an October argument lineup that will task the Third Circuit with mulling drug price fights by AstraZeneca and other pharmaceutical powerhouses and a suit by a Pennsylvania man claiming his past convictions don't foreclose his right to own a gun. 

  • October 08, 2024

    Conn. Ethics Board Tosses Grievance Against Ex-Town Atty

    A Connecticut ethics panel has dismissed a grievance at the heart of a former town attorney's claims that the tax assessor spread lies about his conduct and character, finding that the lawyer broke no professional conduct rules and concluding no further investigation was warranted.

  • October 08, 2024

    Senior Renters Say Mass. Facility Charged Exorbitant Fees

    A proposed class of low-income, elderly residents at an assisted living facility have told a Massachusetts federal court the facility's owner and operators charged an illegal "ancillary fee" calculated to extract all but a $100 monthly allowance from residents.

  • October 08, 2024

    Honeywell To Spin Off Materials Biz Amid $9B Buying Spree

    Skadden-advised Honeywell said Tuesday it will spin off its advanced materials business into an independent publicly traded company, the latest maneuver in a $25 billion strategic restructuring that the company said has included about $9 billion deployed for acquisitions in 2024. 

Expert Analysis

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Parsing FY 2024 DOJ Criminal Healthcare Fraud Enforcement

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    While the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division's strike force on healthcare fraud enforcement action shows an impressive doubling of criminal indictments, a closer look at the data offers important clues about underlying trends, including the comparably modest, accompanying increase in associated intended loss, say Roderick Thomas and Kathleen Cooperstein at Wiley.

  • How Gov't AI Protections May Affect Contractors' Data Rights

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    The U.S. Senate’s proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 2025, which includes provisions to maintain the government's data rights when contracting for artificial intelligence, should prompt contractors to examine how to protect their own rights when the current data rights framework is applied to AI, say Tyler Evans and Caitlin Conroy at Steptoe.

  • Lessons From Recent SEC Cyber Enforcement Actions

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    The recent guidance by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance is helpful to any company facing a cybersecurity threat, but just as instructive are the warnings raised by the SEC's recent enforcement actions against SolarWinds, R.R. Donnelley and Intercontinental Exchange, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media

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    The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Misplaced Info, Trade-Offs, Proteges

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    James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions concerning the consequences of providing solicited information in the wrong section of a bid proposal, the limits of agency discretion in technical merit, best-value trade-off evaluations, and the weight of the experience and capabilities of small businesses in mentor-protégé joint venture qualification.

  • Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Opinion

    Time To Reimagine The Novation Process For Gov't Contracts

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, which recently extended a long-standing request for public comments on its novation procedures, should heed commenters' suggestions by implementing specific changes in its documentation requirements, thereby creating a more streamlined and practical novation process, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • How Justices' E-Rate Decision May Affect Scope Of FCA

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual decision in Wisconsin Bell v. U.S., determining whether reimbursements paid by the E-rate program are "claims" under the False Claims Act, may affect other federal programs that do not require payments to be made by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, says David Colapinto at Kohn Kohn.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • What Cos. Should Note In DOJ's New Whistleblower Pilot

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a new whistleblower pilot program last week — continuing its efforts to incentivize individual reporting of misconduct — companies should review the eligibility criteria, update their compliance programs and consider the risks and benefits of making their own self-disclosures, say attorneys at Skadden.

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