Government Contracts

  • September 18, 2024

    CVS Unit Pays $60M Over Alleged Insurance Kickback Scheme

    CVS Health subsidiary Oak Street will pay $60 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by paying illegal kickbacks to third-party insurers in return for scouting and inducing Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to enroll in its primary care clinics, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

  • September 18, 2024

    7th Circ. Questions Nixing $183M Eli Lilly Drug Rebate Verdict

    A Seventh Circuit judge seemed unsure Wednesday whether to disturb a $183 million verdict against Eli Lilly in a false claims case targeting more than a decade of drug rebate miscalculations, questioning whether the company skipped checking legal guidance before calling its price reporting requirements unclear.

  • September 18, 2024

    Feds Say Afghan Allies Can't Sue Over Kids' Visa Denials

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged a Virginia federal judge to toss a suit from Afghan allies who claim their children's visa applications were arbitrarily denied, saying the suit has no legal leg to stand on.

  • September 18, 2024

    House Rejects 6-Month Federal Funding Bill

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected a continuing resolution funding the federal government for six months, after a veto threat from President Joe Biden over the bill's funding levels and a contentious clause requiring citizenship checks for voter registration.

  • September 18, 2024

    Gov't Lifeline Gives Nippon A Fighting Chance On US Steel

    The Biden administration has indicated it's poised to block Nippon Steel from proceeding with a controversial $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, but the government is reportedly giving the Japanese steelmaker an additional 90 days to prove its case, a development that should give Nippon hope it can get the deal done, attorneys say.

  • September 18, 2024

    Vista Rejects MNC's Latest Offer, Recommends Czech Co. Bid

    Vista Outdoor Inc. on Wednesday again rejected Dallas-based private equity firm MNC Capital Partners LP's bid to take over the company and instead recommended that its shareholders approve its already-inked deal with Czech defense company Czechoslovak Group AS.

  • September 18, 2024

    Bipartisan Bill Would Boost Acquisition Council's Authority

    A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced a bill to boost a federal advisory council that makes recommendations for mitigating risks within federal supply chains, giving the council more funding and the ability to issue binding removal orders for risky technologies.

  • September 18, 2024

    Ex-Amgen Rep Wasn't Original Whistleblower, Judge Says

    A Brooklyn federal judge tossed a former Amgen sales representative's whistleblower suit on Wednesday, saying many elements of his allegations of a kickback scheme had been disclosed in news reports and civil lawsuits prior to his filing.

  • September 18, 2024

    Senate Panel Backs Bill Easing Pot Rules For Federal Hires

    A Democrat-backed bill that would curb federal agencies' ability to use past medical or recreational cannabis use as a factor in hiring and security clearance decisions was advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday, paving the way for a vote before the whole chamber.

  • September 18, 2024

    Fla. Judge Keeps Tribe's CWA Permitting Power Row On Hold

    A Florida federal judge on Wednesday further extended his pause of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' lawsuit claiming the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency improperly granted Florida authority over a Clean Water Act permitting program, while the D.C. Circuit considers an appeal in a similar case.

  • September 18, 2024

    DOJ Says Ship Is Liable For $100M In Baltimore Bridge Collapse

    The U.S. Department of Justice is suing to recover $100 million from the owner and the manager of the cargo ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, alleging gross negligence on their part killed six people and destroyed a vital transportation corridor.

  • September 18, 2024

    GEO Can't Keep ICE Detention Case In Federal Court

    Private prison contractor GEO Group Inc. will have to return to state court to fight allegations that it wouldn't let Washington public health inspectors into an immigration detention center, a Washington federal judge has ruled, saying the court has already debunked the same defenses in related cases.

  • September 18, 2024

    Jury Finds Eatery Owner Guilty Of COVID Fraud, Tax Crimes

    A San Diego restaurant owner who worked with food delivery services during the pandemic and saw his business improve was convicted by a California federal jury of tax crimes and lying on loan applications to obtain more than $1.7 million in COVID-19 funds meant for struggling businesses.

  • September 18, 2024

    DOL Points To 5th Circ. Ruling To Save Contractor Wage Hike

    A recent Fifth Circuit decision ruling that the U.S. Department of Labor could raise salary levels for overtime-exempt workers clarifies that the major questions doctrine should stay out of a case challenging the minimum wage increase for federal contractors, the DOL told the appeals court.

  • September 18, 2024

    Data Brokers Say NJ Judicial Privacy Law Goes Too Far

    A group of data brokers accused of violating the New Jersey judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law has doubled down on its argument to a federal court that the law cannot survive strict constitutional scrutiny and must be thrown out.

  • September 18, 2024

    Penn State To Pay Over $703K To End DOL Pay Bias Probe

    Penn State University said Wednesday it will pay over $703,700 to resolve U.S. Department of Labor allegations that it paid dozens of women working in maintenance, research, teaching and administrative positions less than their male counterparts.

  • September 18, 2024

    Avangrid Unit Defends Counterclaim In Cleanup Battle

    An Avangrid Inc. unit has urged a Connecticut state judge not to throw out its counterclaim against the state's commissioner of energy and environmental protection in her suit accusing the utility of moving too slowly on an ordered cleanup of a shuttered power plant site, arguing the government is acting outside its authority.

  • September 17, 2024

    GC Base Salaries At Big Companies On The Rise

    General counsel base salaries at companies making $5 billion or more in revenue has increased from last year, while their total compensation has decreased, according to a report released Tuesday by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Empsight International LLC.

  • September 17, 2024

    Contracting Rules Don't Bar Union Requirement, GAO Says

    Government contractors can be mandated to enter into agreements with labor unions to qualify for deals, the U.S. Government Accountability Office ruled Monday in a company's protest of the requirement for a $6.6 billion deal.

  • September 17, 2024

    SEC Fines 12 Muni Advisers $1.3M In Texting Probe Actions

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday fined 12 municipal advisory firms a combined $1.3 million over their failure to keep records of employees' use of text messages and other so-called off-channel communication methods to conduct business.

  • September 17, 2024

    Competitiveness Outranks Climate In New EU Commission

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shifted her focus from climate change to boosting competitiveness as she proposed her team of commissioners for the next five-year mandate Tuesday, handing out key jobs covering everything from competition enforcement to trade policy.

  • September 17, 2024

    Mass. Contractor Owes $77K For Violating Davis-Bacon Act

    Five construction workers recovered $77,206 after they were stiffed of prevailing wages and fringe benefits on a Davis-Bacon Act project in Boston, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday.

  • September 16, 2024

    Incumbent Contractor Can't Get Extra Credit, GAO Says

    A contractor that has been providing IT support to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cannot have another go at the job after the U.S. Government Accountability Office backed the agency's decision to choose a joint proposal from IBM and Capital Technology Group LLC.

  • September 16, 2024

    Biden Methane Rule Is Gov't Overstep, ND Judge Rules

    The Biden administration can't enforce a rule aimed at curbing methane gas emissions from federally held oil and gas leases in a coalition of Republican-led states led by North Dakota after a federal judge found the states had sufficiently shown the government may have overstepped its authority.

  • September 16, 2024

    CACI Buys DOD Engineering Services Supplier In $1.3B Deal

    Federal IT services provider CACI International, guided by Gibson Dunn, will pay $1.275 billion for Holland & Knight-led Azure Summit Technology, the companies said Monday, adding to CACI's portfolio an engineering business that develops high-performance radio frequency technology for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Navigating Cybersecurity Rule Changes For Gov't Contractors

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As federal contractors evaluate the security of their IT systems, they should keep in mind numerous changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement recently promulgated to meet new cyber threats, says William Stowe at KBR.

  • How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks

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    With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Opinion

    Agencies Should Reward Corporate Cyber Victim Cooperation

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    The increased regulatory scrutiny on corporate victims of cyberattacks — exemplified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against SolarWinds — should be replaced with a new model that provides adequate incentives for companies to come forward proactively and collaborate with law enforcement, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

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