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Seismic Policy Shift to Open VA Schedule Contract to Non-TAA Compliant Covered Drugs

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 04.21.16

On April 19, 2016, VA posted new guidance mandating that all manufacturers of covered drugs offer to the VA all such drugs, regardless of country of origin, so that VA may evaluate for non-availability waivers. While this major shift in policy potentially reopens sales of non-TAA compliant covered drugs to VA hospitals and other purchasers under a 65 I B VA Federal Supply Schedule contract, the fast approaching and tight deadlines require (a) existing FSS contract holders quickly to calculate and modify their contract to include pricing information about such covered drugs and (b) those manufacturers without an FSS contract quickly to initiate obtaining one.

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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....