The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $2.68 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 23, 2023. DOJ reports that “matters that involved the health care industry” again comprised the largest portion of these FCA recoveries, but that “pandemic fraud” recoveries also
In the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) appeal of McCarthy HITT – Next NGA West JV, ASBCA No. 63571, 2023 WL 9179193 (Dec. 20, 2023), a contractor brought suit for a collection of COVID-19-related claims on behalf of three of its subcontractors. The government moved to dismiss, arguing the subcontractors’ appeal failed
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA), in the case of StructSure Projects, Inc., recently granted COVID-19-related costs to a contractor under a fixed-price contract. The key facts, holdings, and takeaways from this noteworthy case are discussed below.
The government awarded the contractor a fixed-price task order for design and alteration
On January 30, 2023, the Biden administration stated that it intends to extend the previously declared COVID-19 national emergency and the separately declared public health emergency until May 11, 2023, and then end both emergency declarations. This statement comes in response to Congressional attempts to declare an earlier end date to the emergencies with the
While 2020 is (fortunately) in the rearview mirror, issues involving the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are (unfortunately) not going away any time soon. This article provides a brief update on two of the most currently active areas — fraud enforcement actions and PPP appeals — in
More than seven months ago, on September 9, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14042, which imposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on many federal contractors and subcontractors. As we have previously reported, the order intended to use the federal government’s contracting power to increase the number of vaccinated people. Since then, 26 states
As promised, on September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors about the implementation of President Biden’s Executive Order 14042, which imposed a vaccine mandate on many federal contractors. Bottom line up front, as the military likes to say, Uncle Sam wants its federal contractors to
The Biden administration recently announced that “every federal government employee and onsite contractor will be asked to attest to their vaccination status,” and that anyone who “does not attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job no matter their geographic location, physically distance from all other employees and
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued an interim final rule that extends the deferment period for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers who appeal final SBA loan review decisions.
Prior to the issuance of this interim final rule, the rule for appeals of final SBA loan review decisions on PPP loans provided that appeals by
The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Necessity Questionnaire may soon be a thing of the past. Last fall the SBA began requiring lenders to provide certain questionnaires to PPP borrowers that received loans of $2 million or more. The questionnaire was meant to help assess the veracity of a borrower’s certification that