"Rebalancing" The Federal Workforce
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 05.06.10
On March 31, 2010, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in OMB issued a proposed policy letter to provide guidance to the Executive Branch regarding when work must be reserved for Federal employees, whether that work is "inherently governmental" (100% of which must be reserved), or "closely associated with governmental functions" and "critical functions" (some portion of which must be reserved). The recently-appointed Administrator of OFPP, Daniel Gordon, made clear at an April 26 ABA meeting that the purpose of the draft guidance is to "rebalance" the Federal government's relationship with contractors, who are, according to Administration, currently filling jobs that should be reserved for Federal employees.
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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
