GAO Teaches Course in Cost Realism 101
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.06.07
In Magellan Health Services (Jan. 5, 2007, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298912.pdf), GAO sustained a protest of HHS's award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for employee assistance program services when the agency's cost realism evaluation was unreasonable for several reasons, including a failure to account for insufficient levels of effort and labor rates in the awardee's cost proposal. After chiding the agency for not adjusting the awardee's cost proposal in accordance with the recommendations of the agency's own cost analyst, GAO found the adjusted costs were still lower than the protestor's but the smaller delta required the agency to take another look at its unsupported conclusion that the offerors were "technically equal."
Insights
Client Alert | 7 min read | 08.19.26
CMS’s Final Rule Bans Federal Medicaid Funding for Youth Gender-Affirming Care
On August 13, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule banning the use of federal funds — through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — to pay for gender-affirming care for children and youth. The final rule takes effect October 13, 2026 (“Prohibition on Federal Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Funding for Sex-Rejecting Procedures Furnished to Children”). While CMS finalized several key elements of its late-2025 proposed rule (Client Alert December 24, 2025), the proposed Medicare hospital Condition of Participation rule remains in proposed form.
Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.19.26
Client Alert | 7 min read | 08.17.26
Delayed Notification of Cyberattacks May Trigger HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
Client Alert | 4 min read | 08.14.26
License to Hack? The White House Greenlights Private-Sector Offensive Cyber Operations
