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Potential OCI Short-Circuits Sole-Source Award

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.17.08

In Superlative Technologies, Inc. (Jan. 4, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/310489.pdf), GAO held improper the cancellation of a solicitation by DOJ due to potential Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) and organizational conflict of interest unfair competitive advantage problems when DOJ turned around and awarded a sole-source contract for the same work to a contractor using as a subcontractor the company with the PIA/OCI problem. GAO recommended that DOJ reopen the competition and follow the procurement integrity and OCI regulations to determine the scope of the problem and whether any offerors should be disqualified or other corrective actions should be required.

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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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