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On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum announcing the creation of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (the Initiative), which directs DOJ attorneys to utilize the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., to combat knowing violations of civil rights law and the false certification of compliance with such laws by recipients of federal funds such as educational institutions and federal contractors.

Change and uncertainty are among the words that come to mind when describing the government contracting industry in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second administration.

Vinson & Elkins, Gray Analytics, and keynote speaker Stacy Bostjanick of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Chief Information Officer discussed the new CMMC program.

Although the incoming Trump administration is beginning to take shape, there is still a lot of uncertainty around the specifics of the incoming administration’s priorities.

On October 15, 2024, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) released its final rule (the “Final Rule”) formally establishing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) program, nearly three years after first announcing its plan for the initiative.

On November 19, 2024, Vinson & Elkins LLP hosted an event on how the regulatory landscape may develop during the incoming Trump administration.

As part of its Federal Sustainability Plan, the Biden administration has issued a proposed rule that would revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) to incentivize federal government buyers to prioritize the acquisition of sustainable products and services.

On May 12, 2023, the Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2023-38 (the “Notice”), providing guidance on the rules taxpayers must satisfy to qualify for the domestic content bonus credit (the “Domestic Content Bonus”) available under sections 45 and 48 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), for “qualified facilities” or “energy projects” placed in service after December 31, 2022, and under Code sections 45Y and 48E for “qualified facilities” or “energy storage projects” placed in service after December 31, 2024 (collectively, the “DC Projects”).

On January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two consolidated cases from the Seventh Circuit to consider whether a defendant relying on an objectively reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous law acts “knowingly” in violation of the False Claims Act (“FCA”).