NASA Pushes FAR, Far Away for Commercial Crew Program
Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.29.11
In a recent report, GAO questioned whether NASA could ensure adequate price competition using a FAR-based acquisition approach for its Commercial Crew Program because, according to the GAO, substantially reduced funding would jeopardize NASA’s plan to award multiple contracts for the program’s integrated design phase. NASA concurred, and on December 15, 2011, announced that it would abandon using FAR-based contracting for the next stage of the program and instead would rely on “multiple, competitively awarded Space Act Agreements” to foster competition and give NASA “the flexibility to adjust technical direction, milestones and funding” in order to decrease reliance on foreign governments for sending Americans into space.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
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.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
