Government Contracts

  • December 19, 2024

    New Jersey Power Broker Says RICO Case Isn't Fit For Jury

    Defendants dubbed the "Norcross Enterprise" are fighting back against New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin's assertion that their bid to toss a criminal indictment accusing them of engaging in a sprawling racketeering scheme is out of place, claiming the state misunderstands the roles of judge and jury.

  • December 19, 2024

    Addiction Group Pays $2M In Mass. AG False Billing Probe

    An addiction treatment physician group with offices across western Massachusetts will pay $2 million to settle allegations that it overcharged for visits and billed for tests that were not medically necessary, the state's attorney general said Thursday.

  • December 19, 2024

    Cos. Press Justices To Review Contractors Min. Wage Dispute

    Opposite opinions over the scope of the president's authority "cry out" for the U.S. Supreme Court intervention in a case challenging President Joe Biden's increase of the federal contractors' hourly minimum wage, two outdoor groups said, pointing to a Ninth Circuit's decision axing the wage hike.

  • December 18, 2024

    Lockheed, Air Force Agree To Ax $132M Contract Appeal

    The Federal Circuit dismissed an appeal on Wednesday by the Air Force challenging an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals' ruling entitling Lockheed Martin to more than $131.8 million for excessive "over and above" work under a 2007 contract.

  • December 18, 2024

    Ex-Fla Rep. Charged Again For Foreign Agent Violations

    Former Florida Rep. David Rivera, who is battling an indictment in Miami over lobbying work for Venezuela, faces additional criminal charges in D.C. federal court, after a grand jury indicted him on charges he failed to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied on a Venezuelan businessman's behalf.

  • December 18, 2024

    CVS Fueled Opioid Epidemic In Rush For Profits, Feds Say

    The U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a suit Wednesday accusing CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, of knowingly filling invalid prescriptions for powerful opioids and ignoring internal pleas from its pharmacists as it allegedly put profits over safety. 

  • December 18, 2024

    SBA Wants To Speed Up Late Subcontract Payments

    The U.S. Small Business Administration on Wednesday proposed a rule intended to speed up payments to federal small business subcontractors, requiring prime contractors to more promptly report late payments to agencies and cooperate to resolve the issue.

  • December 18, 2024

    States, Green Groups Drop Suits Over USPS Vehicle Plan

    A coalition of states and cities and several environmental groups moved to dismiss their lawsuits challenging the U.S. Postal Service's multibillion-dollar plan to acquire its next-generation delivery vehicles.

  • December 18, 2024

    Texas Says Border Wall Panel Sales May Violate Injunction

    Missouri and Texas asked a federal judge to probe whether the Biden administration is violating an order to use $1.4 billion of congressional funds to build the southern border wall, pointing to media reports that wall materials are being sold off.

  • December 18, 2024

    Senate Sends $895B Defense Bill To Biden's Desk

    The U.S. Senate on Wednesday easily passed an $895.2 billion defense policy and budget bill for 2025, despite criticism over a contentious clause effectively barring gender-affirming healthcare coverage for service members' transgender children.

  • December 17, 2024

    DOD Expands Data Rights For Small Biz R&D Program Cos.

    The U.S. Department of Defense on Tuesday issued rules expanding the data rights retained by small business research and development program participants, and codifying that unique rules for architectural and engineering contracts cover orders under multiple-award contracts.

  • December 17, 2024

    Ex-Ga. Tech Prof 'Lucky' To Beat Criminal Charges, Judge Says

    A Georgia federal judge appeared unsympathetic on Tuesday to a former Georgia Tech professor who said he was the victim of a mishandled internal audit that led to his indictment on racketeering charges, telling the professor's civil attorney his client was "lucky that he's not in prison."

  • December 17, 2024

    Texas Rep. Aims To Bar DOD Buys From China-Linked IT Cos.

    Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the U.S. secretary of defense from entering into information technology contracts with companies with certain ties to China, saying cyberattacks have highlighted the vulnerability of the country's defense and IT systems to foreign interference.

  • December 17, 2024

    Feds Intervene In $200M FCA Case Against CVS

    The federal government has intervened in a whistleblower case accusing CVS and its subsidiaries of pocketing more than $200 million in overpayments, in order to defend the constitutionality of the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions.

  • December 17, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Guts Ruling On $367M Alaska Port Dispute

    A Federal Circuit panel partially vacated a ruling that found the federal Maritime Administration breached two contract agreements with Anchorage related to a Port of Alaska upgrade and expansion, and awarded the city $367 million in damages.

  • December 17, 2024

    Split Pa. High Court Revives Kleinbard Fee Row Over DA Work

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday revived Kleinbard LLC's bid to get Lancaster County to pay for legal work on behalf of a former district attorney, reasoning that a lower court hastily rejected the firm's factual assertions. 

  • December 17, 2024

    PG&E Secures $15B Energy Dept. Loan To Upgrade Grid

    The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday that it has conditionally committed to lending Pacific Gas & Electric Co. up to $15 billion for projects aimed at expanding hydropower generation and clean energy infrastructure in California.

  • December 17, 2024

    Groups Want Win In Partially Blocked Prevailing Wage Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating how prevailing wages are calculated under the Davis-Bacon Act should sink because it is arbitrary and capricious, a group of construction groups said, urging a Texas court to ax the rule after it partially blocked it.

  • December 16, 2024

    Lender Takes Aim At $2B Commisimpex Awards

     A New York state court has issued a temporary restraining order over some $2 billion in arbitral awards still owed by the Republic of the Congo to Commissions Import-Export SA following a decades-old feud over unpaid public works contracts, citing a request from a lender.

  • December 16, 2024

    ICE Contractor Claims Immunity From Family Separation Suit

    Transportation services provider MVM Inc. is arguing a father and son suing it for its role in a Trump administration policy that separated them and thousands of other immigrant families can't show it acted unlawfully or outside the bounds of a valid federal contract, dooming their litigation.

  • December 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Navy Mooted Appeal With New Solicitation

    The Federal Circuit on Monday dismissed an appeal over a ruling that the U.S. Navy had wrongly found a technical support contract proposal untimely, saying the issuance of a revised solicitation and subsequent contract award effectively mooted the case.

  • December 16, 2024

    Honeywell Pollution Suit Belongs In Ga. Court, 11th Circ. Told

    A Georgia city suing Honeywell International Inc. over the company's alleged pollution of coastal waterways told the Eleventh Circuit Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency's supervision of remediation efforts can't transform Honeywell into a federal officer, thus denying the company the jurisdiction it needs to move the case into federal court.

  • December 16, 2024

    Feds Ask To Speak With Juror In Failed $34M Kickback Trial

    Prosecutors on Monday asked a New Jersey federal judge if they could speak with the foreperson of a jury that acquitted a Philadelphia pharmacy executive of scheming to bilk $34 million from insurers by paying kickbacks, after the juror offered to share feedback ahead of a possible retrial.

  • December 13, 2024

    Texas Panel Prods Harrison County About Tank Leakage

    A Texas appeals court judge on Friday questioned whether Harrison County is seizing on a legal ambiguity to avoid required testing of underground storage tanks, saying its loose interpretation of the word "year" in a state law "doesn't sound like a very good idea."

  • December 13, 2024

    DC Judge Questions DOT On Rail Line 'Buy America' Waiver

    A D.C. federal judge Friday scrutinized the Federal Railroad Administration's rolling stock grant for Brightline's high-speed rail line from the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas, questioning whether a waiver of "Buy America" mandates was justified for Siemens trainsets with competitor Alstom claiming some components could be made domestically.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating Restrictions Following Biotech Bill House Passage

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    Ahead of the BIOSECURE Act’s potential enactment, companies that obtain equipment from certain Chinese biotechnology companies should consider whether the act would restrict their ability to enter into contracts with the U.S. government and what steps they might take in response, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • SEC Settlement Holds Important Pay-To-Play Lessons

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent fine of an investment adviser, whose new hire made a campaign contribution within a crucial lookback period, is a seasonable reminder for public fund managers to ensure their processes thoroughly screen all associates for even minor violations of the SEC’s strict pay-to-play rule, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • 7 Takeaways For Companies After Justices' Bribery Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Snyder v. U.S. decision this summer, holding that a federal law does not criminalize after-the-fact gratuities made to public officials, raises some key considerations for companies that engage with state, local and tribal governments, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Vertex Suit Highlights Issues For Pharma Fertility Support

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    Vertex Pharmaceuticals' recent lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute is influenced by a number of reproductive rights and health equity issues that the Office of Inspector General should address more concretely, including in vitro fertilization and fertility preservation programs, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.

  • SBA Proposal Materially Alters Contractor Recertification

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    The Small Business Administration's new proposed rule on recertification affects eligibility for set-aside contracts, significantly alters the landscape for mergers and acquisitions in the government contracts industry, and could have other unintended downstream consequences, says Sam Finnerty at PilieroMazza.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Rule Of Two, Post Award, Cost Request

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Alissandra McCann at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, offering distinct reminders for contractors challenging solicitations while an agency takes corrective action, pursuing post-award bid protests and filing timely cost reimbursement requests.

  • ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations

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    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year

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    As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.

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