LOC Clause Applies To Each Delivery Order, Not Full Contract
Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.30.04
In Analysas Corp. (May 12, 2004), the ASBCA held that, under an indefinite quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for services, the contract’s limitation of cost (“LOC”) clause (which required the contractor to give notice if its costs were expected to exceed 75% of the "estimated cost specified in the Schedule") allowed the government to deny payments to a contractor for costs it incurred in excess of the estimated cost for each delivery order, even though the contractor had not yet exceeded 75% of the maximum total labor hours specified "in the Schedule" for the full contract. The Board reasoned that the contract lacked the “critical provision” of a specific dollar figure "in the Schedule" for the total estimated contract cost, instead allowing for later addition of estimated costs for each delivery order that the government issued.
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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
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