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Teaming Agreements: Date or Marriage?

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.16.13

In Cyberlock Consulting, Inc. v. Information Experts, Inc. (E.D.Va. Apr. 3, 2013), the district court, based on "plain meaning," dismissed the sub's claim for breach of a teaming agreement by the prime for failure to subcontract with it after the award of a prime contract, holding that the subcontract provisions in the teaming agreement were "unenforceable agreements to agree" because the teaming agreement merely described the sub's scope of work as 49 percent of the functions and work in the prime contract, did not include  subcontract terms, and provided for termination of the teaming agreement if the parties could not agree on a subcontract after good faith negotiations. This decision confirms that precise drafting of teaming agreements can make the difference between an unenforceable date and an enforceable marriage.


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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....