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Federal Circuit Affirms Contractor’s $113 Million Award from ASBCA

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.31.16

In another decision in the long-running saga that has 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 Crowell & Moring), the Federal Circuit in SUFI Network Servs., Inc. v. U.S. (Mar. 29, 2016) rejected DOJ’s “mandate compliance” challenge to the ASBCA’s opinions on remand awarding SUFI more than $113 million in additional damages for multiple breaches of contract committed by the Air Force. The court held that DOJ has no independent right to complain of the Board’s awards accepted by the contractor and, nevertheless, found meritless DOJ’s assertions that the Board had failed to heed the court’s directives, instead affirming the CFC’s dismissal of DOJ’s challenge and its order that DOJ instruct the Air Force to pay SUFI’s award.

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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....