1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Unfair Disqualification Results In Reinstatement

Unfair Disqualification Results In Reinstatement

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.19.05

The Court of Federal Claims in OTI America, Inc. v. U.S. (Dec. 7, 2005) reinforced that offerors must be treated evenhandedly, setting aside a disqualification of OTI for high-tech passports when other offerors had been kept in the competition for lesser failures. Joining a recent spate of cases analyzing what relief can be given in light of government assertions of national defense, the court reinstated OTI in the competition, but allowed a pilot project with another offeror to continue, as multiple awards were contemplated.

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....