For the New Year, Out with Origin but In with New Definitions of Source & Nationality
Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.11.12
In a final rule published yesterday (but not effective until February 6), USAID revamped its source, origin, and nationality rules applicable to procurement of goods and services purchased with Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) funds both to implement the 1993 amendments to the FAA and to keep pace with the globalized economy. The new regulations adopt a single, presumptively authorized geographic code 937 (which includes the United States, the cooperating or recipient country, and developing countries, exclusive of advanced developing countries and prohibited sources) and eliminate the “increasingly obsolete and difficult to apply” origin requirement, while changing the definitions of source and nationality to ensure that “fly-by-night” entities cannot be set up somewhere within the authorized geographic region to evade the restrictions.
Contacts
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
