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FY 2019 NDAA – Cyber Focus

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.20.18

The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a robust set of cybersecurity provisions impacting the Defense Industrial Base, including:

  • Encouraging federal agencies to avoid using lowest price technically acceptable source selection criteria in procurements predominately for the acquisition of information technology and cybersecurity services.
  • Establishing a pilot program to oversee Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) handled by contractors with foreign ownership, control, or influence.
  • Requiring DoD to notify Congress of data breaches involving significant losses of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or other forms of CUI.
  • Encouraging DoD and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to assist small businesses in the Defense Industrial Supply Chain by enhancing cyber threat awareness and training, and helping to conduct voluntary cybersecurity self-assessments.
  • Requiring DoD to obtain disclosures from vendors regarding foreign government access to products or source codes, before acquiring their cybersecurity or information technology products and services.

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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....