1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |ITA/USTR Request for Comments on Trade Agreements and Government Procurement

ITA/USTR Request for Comments on Trade Agreements and Government Procurement

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.21.17

Implementing the President’s direction in the Buy American Hire American Executive Order, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration and the United States Trade Representative have issued a request for comments from industry on how U.S. government procurement obligations affect U.S. companies’ participation in the U.S. and foreign government procurement markets. This request presents a significant opportunity for companies to provide input on how such agreements have positively affected their global supply chains as well as the extent to which the public procurement markets of participating governments are important to U.S. industry and jobs. Unfortunately, the notices provide a very short 30-day period in which to respond (until 11:59 pm EDT on September 18, 2017), particularly given the end of summer timing.

Contacts

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 04.14.26

DOJ’s False Claims Act Resolution Against IBM Signals Heightened Risk for Federal Contractors with DEI Programs

On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by failing to comply with federal anti-discrimination requirements incorporated into its federal contracts due to allegedly discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employment practices. This resolution marks the first FCA settlement secured by the DOJ under its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, created in May 2025, and announced by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of the administration’s coordinated efforts to target allegedly unlawful DEI practices. Per the agreement, the settlement is neither an admission of liability by IBM nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded....

View All Insights