TAA Thresholds: Downward Trend Continues for 2018-2019
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.13.17
On December 11, 2017, the U.S. Trade Representative published its biennial readjustment of U.S. dollar thresholds for government procurements covered by the Trade Agreements Act. The new thresholds, which go into effect January 1, 2018 for calendar years 2018 and 2019, reflect a continued decline in threshold values since the 2014-2015 revision, coinciding with the stronger value of the U.S. dollar relative to the other currencies included in market basket of currencies constituting the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) used to establish the thresholds contained in the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement.
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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
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
