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Supreme Court Holds FOIA Response Falls Within FCA Public Disclosure Bar

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.13.11

Mark Troy and Mana Lombardo of C&M have analyzed the Supreme Court’s decision in Schindler Elevator Corp. v. U.S. ex rel. Kirk holding that a federal agency’s FOIA response is a “report” within the meaning of the public disclosure bar in the False Claims Act. Their article, published by BNA in Federal Contracts Report, provides background on the role of the public disclosure bar under the FCA, dissects the Schindler case, reviews other precedents, forecasts the future of the public disclosure bar, and discusses the practical effect of Schindler for contractors.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 10.30.26

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right: GAO Sustains Protest Where Agency Tried to Fix PIA Violation with a Second PIA Violation

Recent sustain decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC and Reliance Test & Technology send a clear message: when an agency tries to fix a Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) violation by committing a second one, the cure can be just as fatal as the disease. The cases involved the U.S. Air Force’s $1.8 billion procurement for O&M services at Elgin Air Force Base. During discussions, the Air Force inadvertently released a pricing overview slide with all offerors’ bottom-line evaluated costs to Reliance Test & Technology, which immediately notified the agency of the error. In response, the Air Force decided to level the playing field by providing the same information to all the other offerors in the procurement, stating, “[o]fferors may consider this disclosure in their [final proposal revision].”...