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Small Biz Get An Extra Two Years for Revenue Lookback

Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.20.18

On December 17, 2018, President Trump signed into law H.R. 6330, Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018, which amends the Small Business Act to extend the time period over which the size standard is measured for business concerns providing services. Whereas previously the Small Business Act used the annual average receipts over a three-year period to determine size for services contracts, size for services contracts will now be measured by the annual average receipts over a five-year period. The act does not amend any revenue limits or impact size standards for manufacturing contracts which are based on employee count. While the change to the act is effective immediately, the Small Business Administration has yet to implement the corresponding changes to its regulations and we expect them to do so shortly.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

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....