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OMB's Newly Proposed Acquisition Pilot Program Could Be a Game-Changer

Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.13.19

In late April, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a letter to Congress, which contained a number of legislative proposals to streamline and improve the agility and efficiency of the federal acquisition process, one of which would establish an “Acquisition Modernization Test Board.” According to the letter, this Board would authorize the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) “to exercise a waiver of one or more acquisition or procurement laws as part of a pilot program to evaluate how changing the statutory requirement(s) might facilitate more efficient achievement of the purpose underlying the law.” Importantly, this proposal would give OFPP enormous discretion and flexibility to pilot innovative and new approaches to streamlining and deregulating acquisitions. OMB seeks enactment of this and other proposals as part of Title 8 (the acquisition title) of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, and, assuming that Congress approves this expanded authority for OFPP (either as part of an NDAA or otherwise), industry should take this opportunity to recommend innovative acquisition pilots. 

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Client Alert | 5 min read | 12.12.25

Eleventh Circuit Hears Argument on False Claims Act Qui Tam Constitutionality

On the morning of December 12, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit heard argument in United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC, et al., No. 24-13581 (11th Cir. 2025). This case concerns the constitutionality of the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam provisions and a groundbreaking September 2024 opinion in which the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that the FCA’s qui tam provisions were unconstitutional under Article II. See United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Fla. Med. Assocs., LLC, 751 F. Supp. 3d 1293 (M.D. Fla. 2024). That decision, penned by District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, was the first success story for a legal theory that has been gaining steam ever since Justices Thomas, Barrett, and Kavanaugh indicated they would be willing to consider arguments about the constitutionality of the qui tam provisions in U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Res., 599 U.S. 419 (2023). In her opinion, Judge Mizelle held (1) qui tam relators are officers of the U.S. who must be appointed under the Appointments Clause; and (2) historical practice treating qui tam and similar relators as less than “officers” for constitutional purposes was not enough to save the qui tam provisions from the fundamental Article II infirmity the court identified. That ruling was appealed and, after full briefing, including by the government and a bevy of amici, the litigants stepped up to the plate this morning for oral argument....

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