DOJ Has No Right to Challenge Board Decision Under Contractor’s Wunderlich Act Suit
Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.27.15
Continuing the long-running saga that has already bounced between the ASBCA and the courts for twelve years concerning a non-appropriated fund contract under which SUFI installed telephones in Air Force lodgings at bases in Germany (and has been represented by C&M), the CFC in its latest decision in SUFI Network Servs., Inc. v. U.S. (July 21, 2015) held that the government has no independent right to use SUFI's earlier court challenge under the Wunderlich Act to complain of the decisions of the ASBCA on remand. The CFC dismissed the action with prejudice, with the stated "expectation" that DOJ will instruct the NAFI to pay SUFI the ASBCA's award of an additional $113 million, with interest as provided by agreement, but, if past is prologue, a more reasonable expectation may be that DOJ will appeal to the Federal Circuit.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
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.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
