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GAO Blasts Faulty Past Performance Evaluation

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.24.08

In sustaining the protest in DRS C3 Systems, LLC, (Feb. 26, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/310825.pdf), GAO found that the agency broke nearly every conceivable rule in the past performance evaluation by disregarding the awardee's "extremely adverse" past performance, departing from the stated evaluation criteria, failing to weigh the relevance of available past performance data, and incorporating "various inaccuracies" in the evaluation report. In arriving at its decision, the GAO also highlighted the agency's evolving litigation positions and rejected the agency's "no prejudice" defense when GAO could not "determine that [the awardee's] proposal would remain technically superior overall."

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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....

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