Failure To Update Invalidates Evaluation And Responsibility Determination
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.17.06
In Greenleaf Constr. Co. (Jan. 17, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/29310518.pdf), GAO held that the awardee's failure to advise the agency of changes to its proposed plan for performance which arose after submission of its final proposal revision, including different key personnel and a different software system, invalidated the technical evaluation based on the original proposal. GAO also invalidated the contracting officer's responsibility determination as to the adequacy of awardee's financial resources because the contracting officer knew that an affiliated company that had provided most of the revenues of the awardee's corporate family in the DCAA analysis had been sold.
Insights
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
