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GSA Finally Confirms that Contractors Can Opt Out of Transactional Data Reporting

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.18.17

On Thursday, the General Services Administration formally announced that starting with the new solicitation refresh (anticipated in October 2017), participation in the Transactional Data Reporting pilot will be voluntary. Significantly, GSA has also announced that contractors that were forced into TDR (for new contract awards, option exercises, or the addition of a TDR-covered SIN) will have a one-time opportunity to opt back out of TDR. While the long-term fate of the TDR approach to pricing (which replaces the requirement for Commercial Sales Practices disclosures and Basis of Award customer tracking) remains uncertain, this announcement suggests that these long-standing approaches will not be completely eliminated any time soon.


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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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