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During Bid Protest Stay Agency Should Have Terminated Award To Large Business Following SBA Size Decision

Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.29.06

Departing from precedent and a FAR provision seemingly on point, the GAO, in ALATEC Inc. (Dec. 4, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298730.pdf), held that even though the Army's award of a small business set aside contract occurred more than 10 days after a timely small business size protest was referred to the SBA, an award action permitted by FAR 10.302(h)(1), the Army should have terminated that contract following the SBA 's determination that the awardee was in fact a large business. Because performance of the contact had been stayed due to a GAO protest, and because the SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals sustained the size protest, GAO could not identify any "plausible countervailing circumstances" that weighed in favor of permitting a large business to perform the contract.

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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....

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