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GAO Slams Protestor For Protective Order Violation

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.05.08

For the first time ever, the GAO in PWC Logistics Servs. Co. (Jan. 11, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/310559.pdf) has dismissed a protest without reaching the merits because of violations of a protective order by the protestor. The GAO gave notice several years ago that dismissal was an option for an "abuse of the GAO process," and it found this case to warrant dismissal because, after an inadvertent disclosure by outside counsel of pleadings with significant amounts of proprietary information of the awardee, at least some of the information was circulated within the higher echelons of the company instead of being returned immediately.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....

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