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Proposed FAR Rule Targets Restrictive Confidentiality Agreements

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.27.16

On January 22, 2016, the FAR Council proposed a new rule implementing section 743 of the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, which prohibits federal dollars from going to companies that require employees to sign restrictive confidentiality agreements that could limit the ability of employees to report suspected fraud and abuse to the government. As described in a post, the proposed rule comes at a time of increased scrutiny from government agencies on the use of confidentiality agreements, and several agencies have issued class deviations in order to implement the requirements of the 2015 act pending the issuance of the final FAR rule.

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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....