In this episode of The Essential GovCon Brief, Patrick Burns and Meredith Thielbahr of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani discuss three significant developments affecting federal contractors.
They start with the latest ruling on the Administration’s DEI restrictions—a Maryland federal court declined to preliminarily enjoin Executive Order 14398, reading it narrowly to reach only intentional discrimination already barred by federal law, and leaving the FAR 52.222-90 clause in force.
Then, they turn to artificial intelligence, where the Department of War issued new guidance implementing “truth-seeking” and “ideological neutrality” requirements for large language models, including four baseline disclosure categories, updated documentation duties, subcontract flowdowns, and a 15-business-day response window.
Finally, they cover two Court of Federal Claims decisions in Blue Water Autonomy, Inc. v. United States. The court recognized jurisdiction over an Other Transaction competition, departed in part from Telesto‘s “jurisdictional blackout,” then sustained one protest on disparate-treatment grounds and denied the other—with injunctive relief capping MUSV production obligations at $1.5 billion.
Tune in for a discussion of these developments and the practical considerations contractors should keep in mind as the federal procurement landscape continues to evolve.