Due Diligence

In a sharply worded order issued May 18, 2026, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) remanded the agency’s suspension of ATI Government Solutions, LLC, from the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Program, finding the administrative record so deficient that it could not meaningfully review whether the suspension rested on adequate evidence. The case is Matter of ATI Government Solutions, LLC, SBA No. BDPT-728 (2026), and the decision is a forceful reaffirmation of two bedrock principles of administrative law in the 8(a) suspension context: An agency must articulate its reasoning at the time it acts, and the record it submits on appeal must actually contain the materials the decision-maker relied on. It also arrives at a uniquely fraught moment for 8(a) firms—and ATI, a tribally owned participant suspended on the strength of a hidden-camera video, illustrates exactly the kind of fast, thinly supported enforcement action that seems to have become business as usual for the SBA in recent months.

Continue Reading OHA Remands 8(a) Suspension Built on Hidden-Camera Video

Given the slew of Executive Orders (EOs) last year focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and roiling the funding and operations of recipients of federal financial assistance such as universities and nonprofits, recipients may be forgiven for passing over EO 14398, dated March 26, 2026. As we’ve been covering (here and here), EO 14398 marks a second phase of the administration’s focus on “racially discriminatory DEI activities.” Where EOs from 2025 focused on broad policy shifts and internal agency operations, 2026 EOs seek prospective operationalization of the administration’s policy preferences by baking restrictions on DEI activities into federal contracts.

Continue Reading Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Can Look to the New DEI Clause to Prepare for Potential Increased Scrutiny of Their Own Awards

The Department of Defense’s proposed rule implementing Section 847 of the FY 2020 NDAA could fundamentally reshape how foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) is monitored across the defense industrial base. Through proposed DFARS Part 240, the rule would extend recurring FOCI disclosure, National Industrial Security System (NISS) reporting, and Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) oversight far beyond the traditional facility-clearance context and into ordinary government contracting. For foreign-owned contractors, allied-country suppliers, private equity sponsors, and federal subcontractors, the proposal signals the emergence of a permanent compliance regime built around continuous visibility rather than one-time vetting.

Friends, Romans, contractors, lend me your ears;
I come to disclose your owners, not to debar them.
The FOCI that contractors do is oft assessed;
The clearances are oft interred with their bones.
So let it be with allies. The honorable rule
Hath told you that we treat all foreigners alike;
If it be so, it is a grievous form,
And grievously hath the SF-328 answered it.

The speech may be a little ridiculous, but in its way, it’s also a little accurate. The proposed DFARS rule implementing Section 847 of the FY 2020 NDAA is not unkind to allies. It is, as was Mark Antony, scrupulously polite to them, right up to the moment it asks them to register as suspects.

Continue Reading Section 847 and the New Era of DOD Continuous FOCI Monitoring

The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new Data Security Program (DSP), designed to protect sensitive information and national security-related data from misuse by foreign actors, took full effect on October 6, 2025. The program introduces new restrictions on how companies handle and share sensitive US personal data and government-related data, especially when certain foreign entities are involved. With enforcement underway, companies should understand who is covered, what activities are restricted, and what compliance measures are required. Failure to comply with the rules can result in civil or criminal penalties.

Continue Reading DOJ Launches New Data Security Program—What Your Company Needs to Know

So you want to acquire a government contractor? Makes sense, and you’re not alone. Over the past few years, the federal contracting landscape continues to evolve as a result of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), primarily involving the acquisition of small and midsize contractors by larger entities as a means to quickly expand into new federal markets. This trend is especially prevalent in the information technology (IT) market, where the acquisition of small or midsize IT firms with new capabilities can provide larger firms with shiny new toys to share with their roster of government clients to gain a larger share of the federal IT “pie,” if not create—almost overnight—new IT market leaders in areas such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, software, and predictive intelligence.Continue Reading Integrating Cybersecurity Into M&A Compliance Reviews: Avoiding Hidden Cyber Risks in the Acquisition of Government Contractors

On August 6, 2014, plaintiff-relator Andrew Scollick filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against eighteen defendants for multiple violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in connection with an alleged scheme to submit bids and obtain millions of dollars in government construction contracts by fraudulently claiming or obtaining service-disabled veteran-owned small business (“SDVOSB”) status, HUBZone status, or Section 8(a) status, when the bidders did not qualify for the statuses claimed. United States ex. rel. Scollick v. Narula, et al., No. 14-cv-1339 (D.D.C.). Unique in this case were not the claims against the contractors, who were alleged to have falsely certified their status or ownership. Rather, what set this case apart was that Scollick also named as defendants the insurance broker who helped secure the bonding that the contractor defendants needed to bid and obtain the contracts, and the surety that issued bid and performance bonds to the contractor defendants. Scollick alleged that the bonding companies “knew or should have known” that the construction companies were shells acting as fronts for larger, non-veteran-owned entities violating the government’s contracting requirements—and thus the bonding companies should be held equally liable with the contractors for “indirect presentment” and “reverse false claims” under the FCA.
Continue Reading The Sword of Damocles Hangs Over Miller Act Sureties and Brokers: Scollick Case Stayed Sixty Days for Mediation, but Outcome Remains Uncertain