False Claims Act

“For scienter, it is enough if respondents believed that their claims were not accurate.” 1 - Justice Thomas On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its opinion on the ongoing False Claims Act (“FCA”) scienter issues (the “Opinion”) – i.e., does a company’s objective or subjective knowledge matter regarding whether its submissions to...

Two contractors walk into a bar (named Public Disclosure). The first says, “Let’s cheat the Government!” The second says, “Great; I know just how to do it, I’m going to charge less than our regular prices – ON PURPOSE – just to mess with Uncle Sam.”   The contractors are overhead by a serial whistleblower,...

Federal contractors and subcontractors are now required to certify annually to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) that they have developed and maintained an affirmative action program (“AAP”). On February 1, 2022, registration for the OFCCP Contractor Portal opened and on March 31, the certification features were turned on. Contractors have from...

DOD REVAMPS CYBERSECURITY MATURITY MODEL CERTIFICATION (“CMMC”) ROBUST ENFORCEMENT LIKELY USING THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT CMMC Program Overview The CMMC program enhances cyber protection standards for companies in the Defense Industrial Base. It is designed to protect sensitive unclassified information that is shared by the Department of Defense (“DoD”) with its contractors and subcontractors....

On October 6, 2021, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (the “Initiative”) to combat cyber threats, specifically to sensitive information and critical systems of the United States Government (USG). In launching the Initiative, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco made clear that a primary focus of the Initiative is to...

Recent well publicized data breaches pertaining to Department of Defense (DoD) unclassified information have caused the DoD to adopt new regulations for contractors who might be handling unclassified information for the DoD. On September 29, 2020, the DoD issued an interim rule aimed at implementing its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. There is...