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Government Contracts
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August 13, 2024
Wisconsin Bell Tells Justices FCA Doesn't Apply To E-Rate
AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell Inc. told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that applying the False Claims Act to fraudulent E-rate program reimbursements means turning the "heavy artillery of the administrative state" onto private transactions.
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August 13, 2024
DOD Says Missing License Is Needed To Dispute $1B Fuel Deal
The Defense Logistics Agency has urged the Court of Federal Claims to toss a protest alleging a $1 billion African fuel supply deal requires a license that can only be secured through bribery, saying not already having the license dooms the protester's case.
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August 13, 2024
Poland Inks Estimated $12M Deal For Boeing Military Copters
Boeing announced Tuesday that it inked a deal to sell 96 Apache combat helicopters to Poland for its military, formalizing an estimated $12 billion transaction approved last year.
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August 13, 2024
FirstEnergy Makes Nonprosecution Deal To End Ohio AG Probe
FirstEnergy said Tuesday that it has secured a nonprosecution agreement with Ohio's attorney general stemming from an alleged $1 billion bribery scandal involving the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, with both parties touting the utility company's remediation and compliance improvements.
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August 13, 2024
Janssen Wants New FCA Trial As Relators Seek $1.85B Win
Janssen has urged a New Jersey federal judge to toss a jury's $150 million False Claims Act verdict that found the pharmaceutical company illegally profited from the off-label marketing of popular HIV medications, while whistleblowers have asked the court for a whopping $1.85 billion judgment consisting of trebled damages and statutory penalties.
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August 13, 2024
Contractor Can't DQ Maynard Nexsen From Bias Case
An Alabama federal judge won't disqualify Maynard Nexsen PC from representing a former Parsons Corp. engineer in his discrimination suit against the company for allegedly representing both parties at the same time, saying Parsons' disqualification motion was "unmeritorious."
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August 13, 2024
Rising Star: Morrison Foerster's Caitlin Crujido
Morrison Foerster LLP's Caitlin Crujido's work on prominent contractor acquisition deals and a successful challenge to a $45 billion U.S. Department of Energy contract has earned her a spot among the government contracts attorneys under 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 12, 2024
GAO Says VA Deal Awardee Wasn't Missing Key Staff Member
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected Booz Allen Hamilton's protest over a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreement for healthcare market assessments, saying there was no evidence that a key worker for the awardee wasn't available to work on the deal.
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August 12, 2024
Judge Won't DQ Asst. US Atty In Standard Chartered FCA Case
A New York federal judge on Monday declined to disqualify an assistant United States attorney from a long-dismissed False Claims Act suit against Standard Chartered Bank, calling the whistleblower's arguments for disqualification meritless "to the point where they verge on vexatious and frivolous."
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August 12, 2024
Deadline Passes For Camp Lejeune Claims
The deadline for U.S. Marine Corps servicemembers and their families to file administrative claims with the federal government over illnesses contracted by contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune passed on Saturday, with more than 320,000 claims that have been filed with the U.S. Navy.
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August 12, 2024
SEC, SolarWinds In Settlement Talks After Cyber Suit Trimmed
Software company SolarWinds Corp. is in talks to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cybersecurity lawsuit after a Manhattan federal judge dismissed the majority of claims over a 2020 data breach, the parties said Monday.
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August 12, 2024
Protest Tossed After Navy Cancels $12M Software Deal
A Court of Federal Claims judge has dismissed a technology company's protest over the U.S. Navy's alleged violation of a federal preference for commercial products when it issued a sole-source software contract, finding cancellation of the deal made the dispute effectively moot.
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August 12, 2024
2nd Circ. Nixes 'Excessive' $5M Award For Housing Nonprofit
The Second Circuit on Monday overturned a $5 million award to a nonprofit that faced pushback from a Connecticut town while trying to open a group home for individuals with disabilities, finding that it was unconstitutionally excessive, but at the same time castigated the municipality's officials for "highly reprehensible" conduct.
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August 12, 2024
Rising Star: Blank Rome's Robyn N. Burrows
Blank Rome LLP's Robyn Burrows helped undo a U.S. Government Accountability Office ruling on a personnel dispute that cost KPMG a contract and convinced the U.S. Department of Energy to allow millions of dollars of costs for a Hanford Site contractor, earning her a spot among the government contracts law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 09, 2024
DoD Engineer Arrested For Taking Home 'Top Secret' Docs
A U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee accused of taking thousands of pages from his workplace was arrested early Friday morning, according to an affidavit that also reveals he was en route to Mexico for a fishing trip and that "stacks of papers" with top secret documents were found in his Virgnia home.
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August 09, 2024
Feds Say Smartmatic Execs Bribed Philippine Elections Head
Federal prosecutors have accused three Smartmatic executives — including the voting-machine company's co-founder and president — of bribing a Philippines elections official to secure contracts for the country's 2016 elections, according to an indictment filed Friday in Florida federal court.
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August 09, 2024
Top 4 Gov't Contracting Policies Of 2024: Midyear Report
Federal agencies have made several prominent policy moves affecting contractors this year, headlined by programs incentivizing whistleblowers to come forward with information about contracting fraud, tweaks to a wide-ranging cybersecurity standard, and guidance for how agencies should purchase generative tools. Here, Law360 examines four significant policy changes from the first half of 2024 that will affect government contractors.
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August 09, 2024
Valeant's Legal Gripe A Total 'Nothingburger,' Justices Told
A lawyer who assembled a whistleblower lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company using publicly available patent board filings says the larger legal question of whether he can do that is way too niche for the U.S. Supreme Court to bother thinking about.
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August 09, 2024
Bond Denied For Ex-Ecuador Official Convicted In Bribery Plot
A Florida federal judge denied bond to Ecuador's ex-comptroller Friday after a jury convicted him earlier this year of laundering more than $12 million in bribes received in a construction scandal, saying the record would not support releasing him from custody before he is sentenced.
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August 09, 2024
Appeals Board Says BAE Not Owed $21M Pension Cost Claim
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals rejected BAE Systems' $20.8 million appeal over costs related to withdrawing from a union pension plan at the end of a U.S. Air Force contract, saying the contract did not cover those costs.
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August 09, 2024
Justices Urged To Turn Away $1.3B Sovereign Immunity Case
A commercial division of India's space agency is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to revisit a Ninth Circuit decision refusing to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award issued to a satellite communications company, arguing that the jurisdictional question raised in the petition has been long settled.
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August 09, 2024
Immigrants In Ind. Jail Resist ICE Bid To Dodge Detention Suit
Immigrant detainees challenging conditions at an Indiana county jail resisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's attempt to duck claims that it kept paying the county to detain immigrants, even though the prison's sanitation and medical services fell short of federal standards.
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August 09, 2024
Colo. Panel Says Vail Resorts' Land Spat With Town Is Moot
The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled against Vail Resorts in its suit challenging a local ordinance that allegedly blocked the company's development of 23.3 acres of land that was subsequently taken by the town via eminent domain.
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August 09, 2024
Highway Contractor, Exec Charged With $100M Price-Fixing
Federal prosecutors announced the indictment of an Oklahoma highway runoff contracting business and two of its employees for their involvement in a price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation conspiracy that impacted over $100 million in publicly funded construction contracts in the state.
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August 09, 2024
GAO Says Alleged Conflict Didn't Affect $795M Navy Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied Amentum Services Inc.'s protest over a $795.3 million U.S. Navy aircraft support contract, ruling the Navy properly found there was no conflict of interest stemming from the awardee's subcontractor hiring a former Navy official.
Expert Analysis
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GSA's Carbon-Free Power Plan: Tips For Electricity Suppliers
The U.S. General Services Administration's recent request for information concerning its intent to acquire a large amount of carbon pollution-free electricity over the next decade in the PJM Interconnection region offers key insights for companies interested in becoming electric power suppliers to federal government agencies, say Shaunna Bailey and Nicholas Dugdale at Sheppard Mullin.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Interpretation And Jurisdiction
Edward Arnold and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine three decisions by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that show the importance of knowing who your contracting partner is, addressing patent ambiguities in a solicitation prior to award and keeping basic contract principles in mind when evaluating performance obligations.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
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.
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New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS
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.
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The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework
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.
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What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI
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.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
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.
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When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge
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.
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Series
Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill
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.
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How Export Controls Are Evolving To Address Tech Security
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.
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Opinion
New Mexico Fire Victims Deserve Justice From Federal Gov't
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.
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Opinion
Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
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.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
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.
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Lessons For Nursing Facilities From DOJ Fraud Settlement
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.