On January 8, 2025, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published its final rule addressing Executive Order (E.O.) 14117, “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern.” With the final rule, the DOJ National Security Division’s Foreign Investment Review Section (“FIRS”) defines prohibited and restricted data transactions,
Government Contracts & Investigations Blog
Latest updates on Developments Affecting Government Contracts & Investigations
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FedRAMP Releases New Draft Authorization Boundary Guidance
Over the last few years, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (“FedRAMP”) Program Management Office (“PMO”) has released two draft guidance documents related to defining the applicable boundary for security assessments of cloud service offerings, but final versions were never released. On January 16, 2025, FedRAMP released another draft authorization boundary guidance document (RFC-0004).…
FY2025 NDAA Increases the Threshold for DoD Task Order Protests and Asks GAO and DoD to Explore Changes to Bid Protest Process
In the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (“FY25 NDAA”), Congress included some important provisions related to the bid protest process at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”). These provisions (1) raise the dollar threshold for task order protests of Department of Defense (“DoD”) procurements and (2) task DoD and GAO with exploring processes…
ALERT: Trump Administration Issues “Pause” on Federal Grant Spending Effective January 28
Important Update: On January 28, 2025 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an Administrative Stay enjoining OMB from enforcing OMB Memorandum M-25-13 until the Court can hear full arguments, scheduled for February 3. We continue to monitor developments.…
Tracking the New Administration’s Executive Actions Changes
With President Donald Trump commencing his second term, significant changes are anticipated across global industries. His series of sweeping executive actions have already sparked pushback and legal challenges.…
Governmental Practice Cybersecurity and Data Protection: 2024 Recap & 2025 Forecast Alert
To kick off the New Year (and as is now tradition, since we put out a similar Recap & Forecast last year), Sheppard Mullin’s Governmental Practice Cybersecurity & Data Protection Team has prepared a cybersecurity-focused 2024 Recap (highlighting major updates and including links to the resources we put out over the past year) and a…
Will CBP Search Your Laptop and Cell Phone at the Port of Entry?
Cell phone and laptop searches do happen but they are relatively rare. Although the Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures is drastically reduced at a port of entry, as are expectations of privacy, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (“CBP”) has internal protocols requiring Officers to have some basis for the…
Update – Penn State to Pay Up for Cyber-Related FCA Case
On October 22, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that Pennsylvania State University (“Penn State”) has agreed to pay $1,250,000 to settle a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case brought against the University approximately two years ago. The whistleblower in the case, former chief information officer of the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, alleged that…
FCA Whistleblowers – No More?
A federal district court in the Middle District of Florida issued a decision on Sept. 30th that threatens the federal government’s continued reliance on the False Claims Act (“FCA”) as the most powerful weapon in the Department of Justice’s enforcement arsenal. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle threw out a case against a group of Medicare…
Government Contractors Beware: The Trap of the Unintended Agency-Level Protest and Timeliness Implications
One forum to raise a protest against the award of a contract is at the agency responsible for the procurement, pursuant to the procedures set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 33.103. The procedures require that a protester submit a protest to the agency that details the legal and factual grounds for the protest; describes…