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DoD Issues Final Rule on Allowability of Whistleblower Costs

Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.28.14

On July 25, DoD, GSA, and NASA issued a final rule addressing the allowability of legal costs of a contractor or subcontractor related to whistleblower proceedings. The new rule amends FAR 31.205-47 to make such costs unallowable if the contractor is found liable for fraud or similar misconduct in the whistleblower proceeding, but also gives the same treatment of costs for settled whistleblower complaints as is currently provided for settlement of proceedings brought by a third party under the False Claims Act in which the United States does not intervene (i.e., costs may be allowable if there was very little likelihood that the whistleblower would have been successful).


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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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