1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |A Day Early Is Too Late

A Day Early Is Too Late

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.29.04

In Guam Shipyard [September 16, 2004], GAO held that a protest of the terms of an RFQ was untimely when it was transmitted to GAO the day before quotes were due, but that day was a federal holiday. GAO acknowledged that the protester had sent the protest to GAO on July 5 by both facsimile and e-mail, and that GAO had received both on that day; however, because documents are considered filed only on days when GAO is open for business, the protest was not deemed filed until 8:30 am on July 6 -- the same day, but several hours after, quotes were due in Japan.

Contacts

Insights

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....

View All Insights