Submission of Indirect Cost Rate Proposal Starts Six-Year Limitations Period
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.01.17
In Sparton DeLeon Springs, LLC (ASBCA Dec. 28, 2016), the Board rejected a government claim for recoupment of alleged overpayments of direct costs as time-barred by the CDA’s six-year statute of limitations. The government alleged that it was not put on notice of the 2007 overpayment until 2014 when Sparton submitted its final voucher, which did not include the direct costs at issue. However, the Board held that the government "knew or should have known" the basis of its claim by 2008 when Sparton submitted its FY 2006 and 2007 indirect cost proposals. Those proposals disclosed direct costs that would be used to calculate indirect rates, but they did not include certain direct costs that the contractor had already invoiced and the government had already paid. Pre-discovery summary judgment was appropriate because "the government should [have] be[en] able to substantiate on its own” whether “interim vouchers contained [sufficient] supporting documentation."
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
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.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
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