On March 31, 2021, in United States ex rel. Felten v. William Beaumont Hospital, No. 20-1002, 2021 WL 1204981 (6th Cir. Mar. 31, 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the False Claims Act’s (FCA) anti-retaliation provision protects former employees alleging post-termination retaliation. The decision creates a split with the Tenth Circuit, which held in 2018 in Potts v. Center for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc., 908 F.3d…

In today’s world, there is a tendency to believe that everything must be preserved forever. The common belief is that documents, emails, text messages, etc. cannot be deleted because doing so may be viewed as spoliation (i.e., intentionally destroying relevant evidence). A party guilty of spoliation can be sanctioned, which can include an adverse inference that the lost information would have helped the other side. But that does not mean that contractors have to preserve…

The Biden Administration is imminently expected to release an executive order that will require government contractors to notify the government in the event of a cybersecurity breach. Despite the relatively steady rise in cyberattacks and breaches over the years, and the enactment of consumer data breach disclosure laws in all 50 states, there is currently no standardized reporting requirement for government contractors. However, the Biden administration has promised executive action on the issue, largely in…

The Department of Defense (“DoD”) requested industry comments by April 28, 2021 to assist with the DoD’s forthcoming report identifying risks and policy recommendations regarding the supply chain for strategic and critical materials.  The Apr. 13, 2021 Federal Register notice notes “the need for resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to ensure U.S. economic prosperity and national security.”  The DoD’s report is due 100 days after Executive Order (“EO”) 14017 “America’s Supply Chains,” signed February…

Last week the Army awarded Microsoft the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract, a potentially $21 billion undertaking by the Army to develop next-generation night vision and “situational awareness capabilities” in a Heads Up Display. Unlike Microsoft’s last multi-billion dollar contract award, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), which is still pending before the Court of Federal Claims more than a year after Amazon filed its bid protest challenging the award in November 2019, IVAS…

It’s coming. From all outward signs, it appears that the Biden Administration may be planning to use the “American Jobs Plan” – otherwise known as the proposed infrastructure plan – to expand the Davis Bacon Act (“DBA”) and require the use of prevailing wages on all projects funded by any infrastructure bill ultimately passed by Congress. The Davis Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. §§ 3141-3148), requires employers performing construction work under contract with the federal or…