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Imminent Qualification As Source Must Be Considered By Agency

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.17.07

In Barnes Aerospace Group (Dec. 26, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298864.pdf), GAO sustained a challenge to the Air Force's sole-source award for the repair of certain "aviation critical safety item" aircraft parts to the purportedly lone qualified source. GAO found that (1) the Air Force improperly proceeded on the basis of a sole-source justification (prepared even before the pre-solicitation notice was issued) that did not consider the protester's potentially imminent qualification as a second approved source, and (2) the Air Force engaged in unequal treatment by ignoring the awardee's own failure to requalify as an approved source.

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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....

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