Insights Search

In early January 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (“the DOJ”) Antitrust Division (“the Division”) announced a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) with Argos USA LLC (“Argos” or “the Company”).

A recent enforcement action announced by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice included a notable plot twist – the investigation did not turn up an antitrust crime, but instead revealed a criminal conspiracy to violate the Procurement Integrity Act (“PIA,” 41 U.S.C. §§ 2101-2107).

We recently reported several milestones and accomplishments from the inaugural year of the Antitrust Division’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force.

The intersection of government contracting and antitrust law keeps making the news.

On September 29, 2020, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued an Interim Rule to supplement its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) program with a DoD Assessment Methodology.

In June 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) suspended a government contractor, Perceptics, LLC, after it suffered a highly publicized cyberattack that resulted in a breach of sensitive data collected from Government surveillance equipment used along the U.S. border.

On July 10, 2020, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (“FAR”) Council released a prepublication version of an interim rule, FAR Case 2019-009 (the “Interim Rule”), amending the FAR to prohibit federal agencies from contracting with companies that use in their systems telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, or their affiliates; video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company, or their affiliates; or telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment (“Covered Equipment and Services”).

Government contractors operate in a constantly changing regulatory environment, and in certain circumstances, a contractor may be contractually entitled to receive a price adjustment when it must comply with a new federal law during performance.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has a track record of aggressively pursuing those suspected of fraudulently exploiting federal relief programs meant to combat crises,¹ and early signs indicate that DOJ will continue this practice with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 6, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published a report evaluating a new Department of Defense (“DoD”) pilot program that provides a more streamlined process for Federal Funded Research and Development Centers (“FFRDCs”) to receive access to sensitive data of DoD contractors…

In a speech at the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s International Cartel Conference in San Francisco last week, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers reaffirmed the Antitrust Division’s commitment to its mission of deterring, detecting, and prosecuting criminal antitrust conduct…

On January 14, 2020, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) Office of the Inspector General (“DoDIG”) publicly released a report criticizing contracting officers at the Defense Contract Management Agency…