GAO Reports Deficiencies In DCAA Audit Reports
Client Alert | 1 min read | 09.24.09
After a review that was focused on DCAA offices that issued primarily "clean" opinions and reports, GAO concluded in testimony delivered to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on September 23 that there were serious quality problems in 65 of 69 DCAA audit report it reviewed (with minor problems in the other 4) and recommended measures to "strengthen" the role of DCAA in the process. Because of the admittedly biased sample used by GAO, the GAO report does not address or acknowledge quality problems in DCAA findings that are adverse to contractors, although GAO did note that DCAA's decision last year to report contractor systems as either "adequate" or "inadequate," eliminating "inadequate-in-part" findings, could unfairly penalize contractors that do not have material or serious deficiencies and recommended that DCAA seek "outside expertise" to develop audit policy and training on audit standards.
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
