On May 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative), which will use the federal False Claims Act (FCA) to pursue claims against recipients...more
5/22/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Funding ,
Fraud ,
Government Agencies ,
Investigations ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
One of President Trump’s campaign themes was ending diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) programs, and he moved quickly to address those campaign promises. Within days of his inauguration, the president issued two executive...more
On April 14, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly ruled, in relevant part, that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) cannot require federal grant recipients to certify that their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)...more
Through a duo of Executive Orders (EOs), issued on April 15 and 16 respectively, President Trump announced “a first-of-its-kind overhaul of Federal procurement policy.” The rewrite represents a once-in-a-generation...more
On March 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal, terminating a Maryland district court’s injunction of certain elements of President Trump’s January 20...more
3/18/2025
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fifth Amendment ,
First Amendment ,
Injunctions ,
Trump Administration
Following U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) lead, which we wrote about here, on March 4, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Class Deviation—Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity in Federal Contracts—directing DoD...more
As the Trump administration continues to eliminate federal positions and reduce contract and grant outlays, many private companies will likely be eyeing current and former government employees for employment over the coming...more
3/6/2025
/ Compliance ,
DFARS ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Ethics ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Agencies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Risk Management ,
Trump Administration
On March 3 Judge Abelson of the U.S. District Court for the District or Maryland denied the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal of the preliminary injunction halting the termination of equity-related federal grants...more
Over the first month of the new administration, President Trump has directed the review or termination of certain types of contracts and grants, including equity-related agreements, awards under the Inflation Reduction Act...more
3/3/2025
/ Compliance ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraudulent Procurement ,
Government Agencies ,
Grants ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
USAID
On February 21, the Maryland District Court issued an injunction prohibiting the administration from implementing requirements in Executive Order (EO) 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and...more
On February 15, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced two new “class deviations” (CDs) making a number of changes to the procurement rules applicable to GSA solicitations and contracts, including leases of...more
On February 4, the Fifth Circuit Court overturned a September 2023 order from a Texas trial court finding President Biden lacked the authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA or Act) to...more
2/13/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Wage and Hour
On January 21, in MVL, Inc., et al. v. United States, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) struck down a 2022 Executive Order (EO), as well as the implementing Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), signed by then-President...more
2/12/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Biden Administration ,
CICA ,
COFC ,
Competition ,
Construction Industry ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Project Labor Agreements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration
As we reported previously, President Trump’s January 21 Executive Order (EO) 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” terminated certain affirmative action requirements applicable to...more
2/10/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Attorney General ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Trump Administration
In addition to the Trump administration’s general freeze on most grant funding, which was rescinded as well as enjoined by federal district courts in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., the new administration yesterday took...more
After an immediate, severe backlash against OMB’s January 27 memo ordering a freeze on almost all federal financial assistance, as well as legal action that led to a January 28 temporary restraining order issued by the D.C....more
The first seven days of the Trump administration have brought new meaning to the saying that the only constant in government contracting is change. Multiple executive actions promise to be just the start of what is expected...more
“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (Order) is one of President Trump’s most recent executive orders. The Order was signed on January 21, 2025. The Order revoked Executive Order EO11246...more
1/23/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
OMB ,
Subcontractors ,
Title VII
On May 1, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (SFWTF) issued an update that the Biden administration plans to end COVID-19 vaccination mandates established under Executive Orders (EO) 14042 on Ensuring Adequate COVID...more
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 includes a short but interesting provision reminding the Department of Defense (DoD) that the unilateral insertion of a new clause in a DoD contract is a change that may entitle...more
12/28/2022
/ Bids ,
Compensation ,
Contractors ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
House Armed Services Committee ,
NDAA ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Solicitation ,
Unilateral Modification
As we have discussed at length on this blog, for more than a year federal courts have repeatedly held that, for various reasons, President Biden lacked the authority to mandate by executive order that government contractors...more
Unbelievably, after the 11th Circuit narrowed the nationwide injunction issued by the Southern District of Georgia on August 30, which took effect when the court issued its mandate on October 18, the government began...more
On February 4, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, which mandates, with limited exceptions, that contractors and subcontractors working on federal...more
2/11/2022
/ Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Contractors ,
Employees ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Joe Biden ,
Project Labor Agreements ,
Subcontractors ,
Unions
After we published our article last week about the status of the four federal vaccine mandates, we learned that a seventh district court had enjoined the federal contractor COVID-19 vaccine mandate, continuing a remarkable...more
2/1/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Injunctions ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
Popular ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
The vaccine mandates President Biden announced on September 9 have not aged well. Two are enjoined nationwide and a skeptical Supreme Court so undermined one that the government withdrew it, at least for the immediate future....more
1/31/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
State and Local Government ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing