Government Contracts

  • July 31, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Launches And Submarines

    The U.S. Space Force paid billions of dollars in July to SpaceX and United Launch Services LLC for national security launches, while the U.S. General Services Administration hired Deloitte Consulting LLP to consult on the nation's efforts to field next-generation nuclear submarines. ​​​​Here, Law360 looks at some of the most noteworthy government contracts over the last month.

  • July 31, 2024

    737 Max Families Say Boeing Deal 'Morally Reprehensible'

    Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes asked a Texas federal court Wednesday to reject Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the "rotten deal" lets the American aerospace giant skirt culpability for the deaths of 346 people.

  • July 31, 2024

    NewAge Execs Deny Inflating Military Contract Prospects

    Executives and board members of the defunct beverage company NewAge Inc. hit back at investors' allegations that they lied about having a deal to sell their products in military commissaries, saying the investors had failed to show that material misstatements were made.

  • July 31, 2024

    Fla. Electric Co. Ex-CEO Gets 4 Years For Privatization Plot

    A Jacksonville, Florida, federal judge sentenced a former CEO of the city's electric company to four years in prison after a jury convicted him of fraud conspiracy charges in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme connected to a process to privatize the public utility, prosecutors said Wednesday.

  • July 31, 2024

    Antitrust Group Backs Naval Engineers' No-Poach Case

    An advocacy group that supports robust enforcement of antitrust laws has urged the Fourth Circuit to revive a case from former naval engineers accusing military shipbuilders of using secret "no-poach" agreements to avoid competing for workers.

  • July 31, 2024

    CVS Appeal Blocked In Whistleblower Suit Over Drug Prices

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has barred CVS Health Co. from making an interlocutory appeal over his interpretation of regulations in a whistleblower's lawsuit claiming the company's prescription entities falsely reported drug prices to the government. The judge recommended that a trial date be set in the decade-long litigation instead.

  • July 31, 2024

    Manufacturer Inks $400K Deal To End DOL Hiring Bias Probe

    A manufacturer of bedding and furniture components will pay more than $400,000 to resolve allegations from the U.S. Department of Labor that it favored Asian job seekers in the hiring process to the detriment of Black, white and Hispanic applicants.

  • July 30, 2024

    Georgia Fends Off Massive Port Project Claim

    An international tribunal has rejected a multinational consortium's claim against the Georgian government for nixing a contract to construct a deep-water port on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

  • July 30, 2024

    Prosecutors Say Bribery Ruling Won't Disrupt Madigan Trial

    Prosecutors accusing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of corruption said Monday night his case is unaffected by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling limiting the reach of a bribery statute that once criminalized gratuities, saying the government's allegations do not rely on gratuities, so "this dog will not hunt."

  • July 30, 2024

    Fla. County Board OKs Funding For $1.3B MLB Stadium

    A Florida county's commissioners on Tuesday approved $312.5 million in funding to go toward a new, $1.3 billion stadium for MLB's Tampa Bay Rays team.

  • July 30, 2024

    NYC Loses Injunction Bid In Texas Migrant Busing Suit

    A New York state judge has denied New York City's bid to bar charter bus companies from transporting migrants from Texas, saying the state law the city leaned on is "essentially identical" to one the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 1941.

  • July 30, 2024

    Army Bug Repellent Case Heads To Mediation

    A qui tam case in which the government alleges a North Carolina maker of bug-repellent clothing skimped on the amount of insect control chemicals it applied to combat uniforms will go to mediation, with a former federal magistrate judge serving as mediator, according to an order issued Tuesday.

  • July 30, 2024

    Exxon Loses Bid For Avangrid Docs In Mass. Climate Suit

    ExxonMobil will not gain access to potentially millions of documents from wind energy company Avangrid as part of the Massachusetts attorney general's long-running climate change suit, after a state court judge found it "inconceivable" that the sought-after material could be relevant to the case.

  • July 30, 2024

    GAO Denies Protest Over Invasive Species Control Contract

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a Washington state-based veteran-owned business's challenge of a herbicide order awarded to a rival vendor and its claim that the U.S. Department of the Interior should have sought a quote from it first.

  • July 30, 2024

    DOD Contractors Must Face Suit Over 'Made In U.S.A.' Label

    A pair of whistleblowers who claim that tourniquets and other medical equipment sold to the U.S. Department of Defense was mislabeled as "made in U.S.A." can continue with most of their False Claims Act suit against two contractors, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.

  • July 30, 2024

    Ga. Gov Fights Dems Bid To Block Fundraising Law

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urged a Georgia federal judge to deny a bid by the state's Democratic Party to temporarily block a 2021 law that created fundraising organs for a select few state elected officials, allowing them to raise unlimited cash and skirt a ban on lawmakers fundraising.

  • July 30, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Must Prove Authority In $486M Award Fight

    A divided D.C. Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that a lower court should have determined whether Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP had authority to represent Doraleh Container Terminal SA before deciding whether to enforce a $486 million arbitral award issued against Djibouti.

  • July 30, 2024

    Virginia Appeals Court Tosses Record $2B Trade Secrets Verdict

    The Court of Appeals of Virginia on Tuesday reversed Appian Corp.'s $2 billion trade secrets judgment against competitor Pegasystems Inc., saying that the trial court made a series of errors on its way to the biggest jury award in state history and that a new trial was warranted.

  • July 29, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms Ga. Prison Officer Immunity For Strip Search

    An Eleventh Circuit panel said that Georgia prison officers violated a woman's constitutional rights when they subjected her to a strip search and manual body cavity search during a visit to see her incarcerated husband, but precedent blocks it from overturning a ruling holding the officers were entitled to qualified immunity.

  • July 29, 2024

    Feds Say Tenn., NC Hospitals Overpaid Doctors For Referrals

    A Tennessee-based hospital system violated the False Claims Act by taking $27.8 million in public healthcare allotments while overpaying doctors, sometimes by three times the average physician's pay, to make internal referrals, according to a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice has joined.

  • July 29, 2024

    County's Pipeline Sinkhole Suit Too Late, Contractor Says

    A construction company says a Washington state court should toss a breach of contract suit linked to a public sewer pipeline project that allegedly triggered sinkholes along a Seattle canal, saying the claims brought by a Washington county are barred by the state's six-year statute of repose for construction.

  • July 29, 2024

    Judge Blocks Medical Records Co.'s Anti-Bot Captchas

    A Maryland federal judge on Monday enjoined electronic medical records company PointClickCare from blocking nursing home analytics company Real Time Medical Systems from accessing patient data with automated bots, saying PCC's firewall wasn't justified by concerns over security or system speed.

  • July 29, 2024

    USPS Backs Oshkosh's Sealing Bid In New Vehicle Plan Case

    The U.S. Postal Service on Friday backed Oshkosh Defense's request to seal their confidential supplier contract terms in litigation challenging the agency's decision to replace its aging delivery fleet with only 62% electric vehicles, arguing rivals could use the information to undercut the USPS when negotiating their own supplier contracts.

  • July 29, 2024

    GAO Nixes Claims That Biz Lost $6.9M Deal Due To Gov't Error

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a contractor's claims that the U.S. Department of the Interior misattributed the contractor's bid for a $6.9 million janitorial contract to an ineligible affiliate, saying the submission identified the contractor as the bidder only once.

  • July 29, 2024

    Watchdog Says Zoom Call Doesn't Warrant Nixing $25.3M Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has refused to undo a $25.3 million contract to support the National Institutes of Health, unconvinced that the agency had revealed a bidder's proprietary information during a Zoom call with the eventual contract winner.

Expert Analysis

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS

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    Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework

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    Recent comments for and against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s proposed guidance on march-in rights — which permit the government to seize federally funded patents — highlight how the framework may promote competition, but could also pose a risk to contractors and universities, say Nick Lee and Paul Ragusa at Baker Botts.

  • What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI

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    A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • How Export Controls Are Evolving To Address Tech Security

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    Recently proposed export control regulations from the U.S. Department of Commerce are an opportunity for stakeholders to help pioneer compliance for the increasing reliance on the use of outsourced technology service providers, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Opinion

    New Mexico Fire Victims Deserve Justice From Federal Gov't

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    Two years after the largest fire in New Mexico's history — a disaster caused by the U.S. government's mismanagement of prescribed burns — the Federal Emergency Management Agency must remedy its grossly inadequate relief efforts and flawed legal interpretations that have left victims of the fire still waiting for justice, says former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • Lessons For Nursing Facilities From DOJ Fraud Settlement

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement with the owner of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Florida provides a cautionary tale of potential fraud risks, and lessons on how facilities can mitigate government enforcement actions, say Callan Stein and Rebecca Younker at Troutman Pepper.

  • 5 Takeaways From SAP's Foreign Bribery Resolutions

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    German software company SAP’s recent settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resolving allegations of foreign bribery, provide insights into government enforcement priorities, and how corporations should structure their compliance programs to reduce liability, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

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