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ASBCA Applies Affirmative Misconduct Standard In Denying Contractor's Estoppel Defense

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.23.06

Despite the Government's earlier approvals of CAS Disclosure Statements found to have disclosed the contractor's accounting practice, the ASBCA in United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney found no affirmative misconduct by the government estopping it from asserting a retrospective claim based on non-compliance with CAS. In following guidance from the Federal Circuit that to prevail on estoppel the Company was required to prove affirmative misconduct by the government, the Board found no inherent conflict between the Supreme Court's rulings in Winstar and other cases that, "when the United States enters into contract relations, its rights and duties therein are governed generally by the law applicable to contracts between private individuals" and Federal Circuit law applicable "in the context of the government's performance of contractual duties in conjunction with CAS rules and regulations . . . not applicable to contracts between private litigants."

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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....