GSA Seeks Comments on Proposed Class Deviation to Address Open "Recurrent Points of Inconsistency" in Commercial Supplier Agreements
Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.20.15
On March 20, 2015, the General Services Administration published a notice seeking comments on a proposed class deviation to the Federal Acquisition Regulation and General Services Acquisition Regulation intended to address "recurrent points of inconsistency" between Federal law and commercial supplier agreements, to establish that the FAR's commercial item terms take precedence over commercial supplier agreements, and to implement standard terms and conditions in order to minimize the need to individually negotiate agreements. GSA has provided a roadmap to all the terms and conditions customarily used by contractors in commercial supplier agreements (15 in total) that it believes conflict with Federal law; contractors have an opportunity to submit comments on this proposed class deviation on or before April 20, 2015.
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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
