Government Contracts

  • August 28, 2024

    Atlanta's Ex-CFO Gets 3 Years For 'Triple-Dipping' In Coffers

    Atlanta's former chief financial officer became the latest city hall official to head to prison on corruption charges Tuesday, after getting hit with a three-year prison sentence for what prosecutors called a "triple-dipping" scheme into city coffers to pay for swanky vacations and illegal firearms.

  • August 28, 2024

    Conn. Dental Practices Settle False Claims Case For $1.7M

    Three dental practices in Connecticut and their owners have paid a $1.7 million settlement after federal and state authorities accused them of using an illegal patient recruiting tactic and paying kickbacks that ripped off Medicaid.

  • August 28, 2024

    Top Gov't Contracts Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    Federal courts in the latter half of 2024 are expected to scrutinize a strict federal registration requirement for contractors and decide whether whistleblower False Claims Act cases are constitutional, potentially affecting a key federal anti-fraud tool. Here, Law360 previews key disputes that government contractors should have on their radar in the second half of the year.

  • August 27, 2024

    Navy Shipbuilder Pleads Guilty To Accounting Fraud

    A shipbuilder that contracts with the U.S. Navy pled guilty Tuesday to accounting fraud as part of a settlement to resolve criminal and civil investigations.

  • August 27, 2024

    Bank Seeks To End Claims It Mismanaged Treasury Program

    A bank is seeking to permanently dismiss a suit accusing it of misleading an investor about its oversight of a U.S. Department of Treasury contract, saying despite amending its case three times, the investor hasn't connected any sustained stock loss to contract issues.

  • August 27, 2024

    Admiral Seeks Bribery Trial Separate From Contractors

    A retired U.S. Navy admiral  accused of accepting bribes from two contractors is pushing a Washington, D.C., federal court to sever his trial from theirs, saying the pair appeared poised to pin any alleged misconduct on him.

  • August 27, 2024

    Return Of Venezuela Sanctions Reignites Criminal Probes

    Criminal investigations into Venezuela-related sanctions violations appear to be ramping back up since the U.S. government reimposed crushing trade penalties on the South American country's oil and gas sectors in response to an allegedly sham presidential election, according to experts.

  • August 27, 2024

    US Arrests Hungarian Suspected Of Sending Radios To Russia

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against a Hungarian national suspected to have run a multinational procurement network designed to help Russia obtain U.S. military-grade communications technology.

  • August 27, 2024

    Top Gov't Contract Cases Of 2024: Midyear Report

    Courts and appeals boards have decided several consequential cases impacting government contractors this year, including determining whether software end-user licenses are procurement contracts and weighing in on when companies can protest alleged violations of a federal preference for commercial items. Here, Law360 looks back at the top government contracts-related rulings in 2024 so far.

  • August 26, 2024

    LA To Pay $38.2M In FCA Suit Alleging Inaccessible Housing

    The city of Los Angeles will pay $38.2 million to settle allegations it knowingly failed, for over a decade, to ensure federally funded affordable multifamily housing properties were accessible to people with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • August 26, 2024

    Army Corps Looks To Trim Claims In Alaskan Gold Mine Row

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told an Alaska federal judge that most of the claims asserted by a small village that's trying to thwart an open pit gold mine can't be supported and should be dismissed.

  • August 26, 2024

    Tetra Tech Accuses Atty Of Mistreating Witness In FCA Row

    Tetra Tech EC Inc. claimed that an attorney representing a developer accusing it of fraud had mistreated a witness during a deposition hearing, pressing a California federal court to order the release of recordings capturing the alleged misconduct.

  • August 26, 2024

    GAO Rejects EY Protest Over $108M DOD Accounting Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied Ernst & Young LLP's protest over a $107.8 million accounting services deal in support of U.S. Transportation Command, awarded to KPMG LLC, finding that the agency reasonably evaluated both companies' proposals.

  • August 26, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Revive JPMorgan Chase Whistleblower Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday refused to revive a whistleblower suit against JPMorgan Chase Bank NA for allegedly forging mortgage loan documents and submitting false reimbursement claims to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, finding the allegations had already been publicized prior to the lawsuit.

  • August 26, 2024

    RTX Settles Bearing Co.'s Trade Secrets Suit On Eve Of Trial

    Defense contractor RTX Corp. on Monday settled claims that it passed a Connecticut roller bearing manufacturer's sensitive design drawings to a competitor, averting a trial set to begin this week.

  • August 26, 2024

    Wild Ga. Horses Need Aid During Suit's Limbo, Advocates Say

    As a Georgia federal judge considers whether to scuttle a lawsuit alleging that a herd of feral horses on one of the state's coastal islands has been neglected and mistreated by federal authorities, the equine plaintiffs have asked the court to order the government to furnish them with emergency stores of food and drinking water.

  • August 26, 2024

    NY Nursing Homes Can't Duck AG's $83M Fraud Suit

    A New York judge shot down a bid by four nursing homes and their operators to dismiss the state attorney general's claims that they defrauded Medicare and Medicaid and neglected residents.

  • August 26, 2024

    Gov't Contracting Policies To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    An overhaul to the U.S. Department of Defense's cybersecurity requirements and a pending rule requiring many contractors to report their greenhouse gas emissions headline a slate of significant policy initiatives for government contractors to watch for during the second half of this year. Here, Law360 previews four upcoming policy changes with significant potential impacts on government contractors.

  • August 23, 2024

    VA Says It Properly Assessed Bids For $22B IT Deal

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has told the Court of Federal Claims that it had no obligation to consider potential future conflicts of interest involving contractors added to a $22.3 billion information technology contract, pushing back against allegations that it should have disqualified awardees.

  • August 23, 2024

    Transport Co.'s Union Pushback Flouted Law, Judge Says

    A company that transports migrant children and families from facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border violated federal labor law through its pushback on a union drive, which included interrogating a worker about his union sympathies and later suspending him, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday.

  • August 23, 2024

    737 Max Families Spurn DOJ, Boeing's 'Cozy' Plea Deal

    Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes told a Texas federal judge on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice's "cozy" plea agreement with Boeing must be rejected because it's based on misleading facts and shoddy math that overlook the tragic deaths of 346 people.

  • August 23, 2024

    Federal Gov't Hits Georgia Tech With Cybersecurity FCA Suit

    The federal government has hit the Georgia Institute of Technology with a False Claims Act suit accusing the university of knowingly failing to comply with required cybersecurity standards while working on federal defense contracts.

  • August 23, 2024

    Judge Won't Restrict Access To RTX Trade Secrets Trial

    Defense contractor RTX Corp. won't be able to bar non-U.S. citizens from a trade secrets trial slated to get underway Tuesday, but exhibits, such as diagrams, will not be made visible to observers in the courtroom, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered.

  • August 23, 2024

    Court Again Dumps Pa. County's Dominion Contract Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal court threw out a county's lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems for a second time, ruling that an amended complaint failed to fix the issue of standing that sank the suit the first time.

  • August 23, 2024

    Patent Case Against USPTO Mimics Failed Suit, Feds Say

    The federal government has moved to toss a suit alleging that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website infringes patents covering the idea of two-factor authorization, arguing that a patent in the same "family" was thrown out in 2016 by a different court that said it contained "nothing inventive."

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • Opinion

    NIST March-In Framework Is As Problematic As 2021 Proposal

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    While the National Institute of Standards and Technology's proposed march-in framework on when the government can seize patents has been regarded as a radical departure that will support lowering prescription drug costs, the language at the heart of it is identical to a failed 2021 notice of proposed rulemaking, says attorney Kelly Morron.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference

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    Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Understanding Fixed-Price Gov't Contracts And Inflation Relief

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Contractors party to fixed-price contracts should note the recent shift in the government’s approach to cost adjustments in light of inflation, and familiarize themselves with certain steps that could help mitigate economic losses arising from increased performance and delivery costs, says Craig Stetson at Capital Edge Consulting.

  • BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Practical Steps For Navigating New Sanctions On Russia

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    After the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia – the largest to date since the Ukraine war began – companies will need to continue to strengthen due diligence and compliance measures to navigate the related complexities, say James Min and Chelsea Ellis at Rimon.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

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