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GAO Says Strategic Sourcing Benefits Realized, Wants Expansion

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 11.18.16

Last month, GAO issued a report on strategic sourcing that addresses how successful the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) program has been to date. While the report found that, from FY2011-15, agencies reported spending almost $2 billion through the FSSI and claimed $470 million in savings, the report also found that “agencies’ low use of the FSSIs … diminished the potential savings that could have been achieved” – an underutilization that GAO attributed partially to the Strategic Sourcing Leadership Council agencies directing only “10 percent of their collective spending to the FSSIs[,]” with GAO calling for more aggressive targets to be set.

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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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