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31-Month Suspension of Affiliates Violates FAR

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.06.12

In Agility Def. and Gov't Servs. (June 26), an Alabama District Court rejected the government's assertion that an agency's suspension of a government contractor is beyond judicial review and overturned the suspensions because they had exceeded 18 months, in violation of FAR 9.407-4(b). The two plaintiffs were suspended in November 2009 based on their affiliation with an indicted contractor, Public Warehousing Company, and, although the initial suspension of the affiliates was proper, the agency could not extend the suspensions of the affiliates beyond 18 months because legal proceedings had not been initiated against the affiliates themselves.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 04.14.26

DOJ’s False Claims Act Resolution Against IBM Signals Heightened Risk for Federal Contractors with DEI Programs

On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by failing to comply with federal anti-discrimination requirements incorporated into its federal contracts due to allegedly discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employment practices. This resolution marks the first FCA settlement secured by the DOJ under its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, created in May 2025, and announced by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of the administration’s coordinated efforts to target allegedly unlawful DEI practices. Per the agreement, the settlement is neither an admission of liability by IBM nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded....