Substantial Changes To CAS Administration Regulations
Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.16.05
Final rules, effective April 8, 2005, concerning proposed changes to CAS administration requirements that have been pending since April 2000 were promulgated on March 9, 2005 (70 Fed. Reg. 11743-61). The new regulations will be discussed in detail at the upcoming OOPS/WOOPS programs on March 31-April 1/April 14-15, but some of the highlights include:
- When there is a CAS noncompliance, contract price adjustments may be required for closed contracts and closed years,
- Improvement in the definition of "desirable" and "required" changes may permit contractors to avoid price adjustments,
- Retroactive accounting changes are permitted in limited circumstances,
- Widely criticized proposals to prohibit offsets between FFP and flexibly-priced contracts were abandoned, and
- Estimates to complete rather than original cost estimates must be used to determine cost impact on FFP contracts.
Insights
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
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
