Compliance

US Department of Justice sign

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently released its 2025 statistics for federal False Claims Act cases. With settlements and judgments exceeding $6.8 billion last year, DOJ’s report shows that the False Claims Act (“FCA”) remains one of DOJ’s most potent and frequently-used investigation tools. The annual report also suggests that, after a year of change and turnover that touched virtually every corner and level of DOJ, the coming year will likely see a historically high volume of FCA cases. Contractors and grant recipients, therefore, should pay careful attention to every claim for payment or compliance certification submitted to any federal authority.

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On May 19, 2025, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (the “CRFI”). As discussed in our post related to that announcement, the CRFI mobilizes federal, state, and local law enforcement to investigate whether recipients of federal funds have DEI programs that violate federal civil rights laws. Multiple federal and state agencies are reportedly conducting investigations into DEI programs within corporations and institutions of higher education.

Recently, my colleague Tracey O’Brien and I examined the implications of the federal government’s intention to shut down the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). OFCCP has already proposed to prohibit data collection by federal contractors of disability status from employees and applicants. In a Notice of Proposed Renewal of Information Collections released by…

In a recent legal update, Husch Blackwell explores new guidance from the Department of Justice on how federal antidiscrimination laws—including Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972—will be interpreted to apply to recipients of federal funding, in conjunction with Executive Order 14173 (“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”). While the guidance lacks the force of law, it captures the administration’s enforcement posture on what it considers to constitute “illegal DEI.”

The FAR Council issued a proposed rule that would amend the several FAR provisions and add new clauses to provide guidance on the safe handling of CUI. Public comments on the proposed rule are being accepted until March 17, 2025. The FAR Council intends to provide guidance to contractors on the requirements to mark, safeguard, disseminate, decontrol, and dispose of CUI (“CUI safeguarding”) for every executive branch agency.

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On January 14, 2025, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the end of its general waiver of Buy America requirements for manufactured products. The new FHWA rule aligns the FHWA requirements for manufactured products incorporated into federal highway projects with the domestic content standards of the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA).

Cybersecurity-related FCA cases poised to increase as FCA enforcement ramps up

On February 7, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act exceeded $2.2 billion during the 2022 fiscal year and that the government posted its second-highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year.

The Department of Energy through the Office of Science has announced that beginning in FY 2023, all DOE funding solicitations, including the Office of Science Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) and DOE National Lab Announcements, will require applicants to submit as an appendix to proposal narratives, a “Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plan.” The purpose of the PIER Plan is to “describe the activities and strategies applicants will incorporate to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in their research projects.” According to the Office of Science’s announcement, the Office of Science will evaluate PIER Plans as “part of the merit review process,” and they “will be used to inform funding decisions.” Applications without PIER Plans will be considered “incomplete” and “will not be evaluated.”

In a speech given at NYU on September 15, 2022, DOJ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco reviewed new and enhanced DOJ policies regarding criminal enforcement related to corporate entities. Monaco’s comments appear to signal that DOJ will be taking a significantly more aggressive posture in corporate investigations. We summarize briefly the new policy priorities below and also provide suggestions on how to contractors might manage risk and compliance issues accordingly.