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DCAA Issues Guidance On Revised Travel Cost Rule

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 04.12.10

In response to the recent revision to the travel cost rule at FAR 31.205-46(b) and (c), which now limits allowable airfare costs to the lowest airfare available to the contractor, DCAA issued guidance on March 22, 2010, that identifies the "lowest airfare available" as that available to the contractor through direct negotiation with airlines or travel agents. The guidance advises that contractors' policies and procedures should provide for (a) documented, advance planning of travel that considers nonrefundable airfares and lower airfares negotiated with airlines, travel service providers, and credit card companies and (b) obtaining quotations from competing airlines or travel service providers.

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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....