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When Size Matters, SBA Has Final Say

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 05.18.10

In DynaLantic Corp., GAO denied a protest based on an allegation that the awardee in a small business set-aside procurement proposed a flight training device simulator that did not comply with the nonmanufacturer rule because the awardee procured the simulators from another country. GAO explained that the protester had concurrently filed a size protest with SBA, which determined that the awardee did comply with the nonmanufacturer rule because it transformed the simulators from a COTS product to a specific product solicited, and that SBA's decision was binding on GAO because SBA has "conclusive authority" to determine the size status of offerors.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26

DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”...

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