Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Government Contracts
-
October 30, 2024
Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Uranium And Missile Detection
Over the past month, the Biden administration advanced plans to secure the nuclear energy supply chain with $3.5 billion worth of uranium enrichment contracts and added $1.8 billion to its next-generation missile detection program. Here are Law360's most note-worthy government contracts for October 2024.
-
October 30, 2024
3rd Circ. Vacates, Remands Philly Union Rule Suit
The Third Circuit revived a suit by a group of contractors against Philadelphia and its mayor's office over the city's former policy requiring that companies working on public projects be members of certain designated unions, ruling that those contractors still have standing for injuries that arose while the rule was enforced.
-
October 29, 2024
'Breathtaking' Pentagon Leak Merits 16 Years, Feds Say
Prosecutors urged a federal judge on Tuesday to sentence a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman to more than 16 years in prison for posting top secret military documents to the social media platform Discord, calling the crimes a historic and "breathtaking" betrayal of national security.
-
October 29, 2024
NYC Mayoral Straw Donor Scheme Sees Another Guilty Plea
A bookkeeper enmeshed in a straw donor scheme to benefit New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign copped to a violation on Tuesday as part of a deal with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, effectively closing out the case.
-
October 29, 2024
6th Circ. Judge Doubts Airport Funding Made It Federal Agent
A Sixth Circuit judge on Tuesday said he saw "problems" with a Michigan airport's argument that federal grants had enough requirements to make the airport effectively a federal officer, suggesting it cannot litigate a suit over its PFAS-containing firefighting foam in federal court.
-
October 29, 2024
GAO Says Space Force Right To Deny Inmarsat Satellite Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest from satellite communications contractor Inmarsat over the U.S. Space Force's award of a $114.6 million contract for Ku-band satellite bandwidth and equipment, ruling that the government was justified in finding Inmarsat's proposal technically unacceptable.
-
October 29, 2024
Ex-ComEd GC Calls Madigan's Interest In Law Firm 'Strange'
A Jenner & Block LLP attorney and former Commonwealth Edison general counsel testified Tuesday that he found it "strange" to read ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was interested in the granular details of the utility's negotiations with Chicago law firm Reyes Kurson. Madigan's counsel, however, appeared to suggest a confidant and co-defendant had name-dropped the speaker in 2016 without actually talking to him.
-
October 29, 2024
DOD Says Boeing Overcharged For Cargo Plane Spare Parts
The Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General has issued a report finding that the Air Force overpaid about $1 million for spare parts in a contract with Boeing for C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.
-
October 29, 2024
BOEM Holds Gulf Of Maine Wind Lease Sale
An offshore wind lease sale held Tuesday for the Gulf of Maine saw two provisional winners for four lease areas with the potential to power some 2.3 million homes, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
-
October 29, 2024
Kasowitz Defense Tech Trio Joins Pillsbury In DC
As investment in government contracts, defense, technology and cyber deals continues to increase, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has hired a trio of policy experts to its government law and strategies team in Washington to assist with lobbying support of U.S. allied-owned defense companies and other clients.
-
October 28, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Revisit Quinn Emanuel's $486M Award Fight
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP lost its bid to get the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its decision in a dispute over the firm's authority to represent a port operating in a long-running legal spat with the Republic of Djibouti, according to an order issued Monday by a divided panel of judges.
-
October 28, 2024
Gov't Says No Duty To Pay $69M In COVID Testing Claims
The Health Resources and Services Administration has urged the Court of Federal Claims to toss a lawsuit alleging the agency owes a laboratory $69 million in unpaid claims under a COVID-19 program for the uninsured, saying there was no contractual duty to pay.
-
October 28, 2024
NASA Says Sensor Co.'s Contract Breach Case Should Fail
NASA has said the U.S. Court of Federal Claims should throw out a sensor business's breach of contract suit over commercialization and licensing deals related to patented NASA technology, saying certain milestones couldn't be reached under the pact.
-
October 28, 2024
Flint Bellwether Delayed On Eve Of Trial, Again
A Michigan federal judge delayed Monday a bellwether trial set to determine if a water engineering firm was professionally negligent for its role in the Flint water crisis one day before jury selection was scheduled to begin and without explanation.
-
October 28, 2024
Pennsylvania Judge Yanks Delaware River Port Approvals
A Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its own procedures" in authorizing plans for a new port on the Delaware River in Delaware, downriver from Philadelphia, ordering the agency to conduct a closer review of the project.
-
October 28, 2024
Gov't Defends GSA's Ohio Office Lease Award
The federal government has urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to swat down a bid protest from a company claiming the General Services Administration unfairly awarded a 15-year office lease in Ohio to another company.
-
October 28, 2024
Feds Defend DEI Monitor Provision In Boeing Plea Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice said it will consider diversity and inclusion when it picks an independent compliance monitor for The Boeing Co. under a proposed plea agreement in the company's criminal conspiracy case, reassuring a Texas federal judge that the selection process will be rigorous.
-
October 25, 2024
Entergy Struggles To Challenge FERC Decision At DC Circ.
The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not utility giant Entergy will be allowed to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a plan that would change capacity market rules, after finding that it would give Entergy too much market power.
-
October 25, 2024
DC Circ. Could Nix OK Of $8M Equatorial Guinea Award
The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared willing to consider nixing enforcement of an $8 million arbitral award against Equatorial Guinea issued in a dispute over an ill-fated hospital operating contract, even as the panel spent much of a hearing focusing on the impact of a decade-old U.S. Supreme Court decision.
-
October 25, 2024
AT&T Unit Continues To Argue FCA Does Not Apply To E-Rate
Congress could have designed the E-rate program to be distributed by the government using its own money, but it didn't, and that's why reimbursements under the program don't qualify as claims under the False Claims Act, an AT&T subsidiary has told the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
October 25, 2024
Green Group Blames NJ For Decline In Sturgeon Population
The state of New Jersey isn't doing enough to prevent the accidental catching of endangered fish, activists said in a lawsuit accusing the state's Department of Environmental Protection of violating the Endangered Species Act.
-
October 25, 2024
Claims Court Can't Hear DOJ IT Deal Corrective Action Case
A Court of Federal Claims judge has tossed a dispute over the scope of the U.S. Department of Justice's corrective action on an information technology task order, saying the case fell within a statutory bar on most task order-related protests.
-
October 25, 2024
Tenn. Hospitals Want Former Execs Nixed From Kickback Row
A hospital system on Friday urged a North Carolina federal court to dismiss whistleblower claims from former executives alleging the system excessively paid physicians to make referrals in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid money.
-
October 25, 2024
Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday
In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.
-
October 25, 2024
Va. Man Gets 7½ Years For $15M Gov't Contract Investor Scam
A Virginia man was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison for defrauding dozens of investors out of $15 million by misleading them into believing that his company had millions of dollars in contracts with federal and state government agencies.
Expert Analysis
-
$200M RTX Deal Underscores Need For M&A Due Diligence
RTX's settlement with regulators for violating defense export regulations offers valuable compliance lessons, showcasing the perils of insufficient due diligence during mergers and acquisitions transactions along with the need to ensure remediation measures are fully implemented following noncompliance, say Thad McBride and Faith Dibble at Bass Berry.
-
Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
-
Navigating Restrictions Following Biotech Bill House Passage
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.