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Attention To Small Business Subcontracting Plan Is No Small Matter

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 11.07.05

In Coastal Maritime Stevedoring, LLC (Sept. 22, 2005 http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/296627.pdf), GAO found unreasonable the Source Selection Authority's decision to change the awardee's rating from unsatisfactory to satisfactory under the socioeconomic commitment factor when the awardee's small business subcontracting plan failed to address required elements of FAR 19.704 and otherwise neglected to comply with the solicitation's required objective for subcontracting to small businesses 10% of the total contract value. GAO also determined that the agency's price/technical tradeoff was flawed because it failed to take into account advantages in the protester's proposal that translated into quantifiable cost savings to the government.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

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....

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