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State of Suspension and Debarment

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.10.18

The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee recently issued its report on FY2017 exclusion statistics. The report highlighted a substantial decline in numbers of exclusions (approximately 14 percent) and an increase in numbers of proactive contractor outreach efforts to SDOs. While the decline in overall governmentwide exclusion activity does not directly correlate with increased proactive contractor engagement, the overarching message from this report is the value of contractor outreach to suspending and debarring officials to avoid being excluded from government contracting and federal assistance programs.

Insights

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....