• The Justice Department recovered more money through the False Claims Act in fiscal 2025 than ever before. New data shows DoJ won $6.8 billion in settlements for healthcare, procurement and tariff fraud. A significant amount of those cases were driven by whistleblowers. DoJ said there were 1,297 qui tam lawsuits filed last year, the highest number in a single year, and the government opened 401 investigations. Of the $6.8 billion in False Claims Act recoveries last year, $5.7 billion related to matters that involved the health care industry.
  (DoJ recovers more money than ever before under the False Claims Act - Justice Department)
• The audit of the 8(a) program is expanding to the largest user of the small business contracting program. The Defense Department is joining the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration in reviewing all sole source contracts under the 8(a) program. Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon spends $100 million a year on 8(a) sole source contracts and he's worried about fraud. "I'm ordering a line-by-line review of every small business sole source 8(a) contract that is over $20 million. We will look at everything smaller than that too," Hegseth said in a video on X. Hegseth said it will be a two-stage review. If the contract doesn't help the DoD mission, they will cancel it. The other stage is to make sure the small business is the one doing the work and not acting as a pass through.
  (DoD to audit 8(a) sole source contracts - Social media platform X)
• New legislation in the House would put new restraints around the Department of Homeland Security’s use of facial recognition and related technologies. The Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act would establish stronger standards around DHS’s use of mobile biometric identification tools. House Democrats sponsoring the bill say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been using an unproven biometric identification tool on American citizens in recent months. ICE has been using the tool called Mobile Fortify to help determine a person’s legal status.
  (Thompson introduces legislation to curb unchecked DHS mobile biometric surveillance and protect privacy of American citizens - House Homeland Security Committee Democrats )
• One agency is easing up on in-office work requirements, while another is ordered to consider more exceptions. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is offering remote work to some of its employees because of limited office space. An agency memo states that while most of its employees benefit from in-person collaboration, employees in roles eligible for remote work are less collaborative and require distraction-free focus. Meanwhile, a third-party arbitrator is directing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to meet with one its unions to discuss exemptions to its return to office mandate.
  (One agency eases in-office work requirements, while another is ordered to consider exceptions - Federal News Network)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a permanent leader to oversee its benefits division. VA’s deputy secretary is heading up the search for an under secretary for benefits. Once a candidate is selected, they will need to be confirmed by the Senate before starting the job. Under the Trump administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration has reduced its backlog of benefits claims by 60%.
  (VA starts search for permanent Veterans Benefits Administration leader - Department of Veterans Affairs)
• Transportation Security Administration employees will continue to have a union after a new court ruling. A federal judge ruled that TSA and the Department of Homeland Security violated a court order when it made a second attempt to eliminate TSA collective bargaining rights late last year. Judge Jamal Whitehead’s ruling last week blocked a September DHS directive that would have dissolved TSA’s collective bargaining agreement. Whitehead found DHS and TSA’s action would violate a preliminary injunction issued last June that stopped the department’s first attempt to eliminate the agreement. The fight over TSA union rights is scheduled to go to trial this September.
  (Judge finds TSA violated court order in new attempt to dissolve union - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Logistics Agency is turning to artificial intelligence to improve its demand planning. The agency has begun ingesting maintenance, consumption and supply data into its models, starting with the Army and expanding next to the Navy and Air Force, with additional work underway for the Marine Corps. The goal is to more accurately forecast demand, improve inventory health and ensure the right items are on the shelf. DLA is currently about 60% accurate when it comes to demand planning. The agency is also using AI to get after our administrative and production lead times.
  (DLA to use AI to improve demand planning - AFCEA Army IT Day)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to hold military family housing contractors financially accountable for remediation, relocation and property loss. For decades, service members and their families have been exposed to hazardous conditions in privatized military housing; military families are dealing with black mold, contaminated water and asbestos, among other issues. A new bill introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) would establish Defense Department–wide standards for acceptable humidity levels, create a 24/7 hotline and website for reporting hazards, require third-party oversight and impose penalties for noncompliance, including withholding fees and allowing tenants to retain their rent. “Now it's time for legislation to protect our military families, 700,000. That's right, 700,000 service members and their families presently face hazardous conditions that may cause respiratory illness, developmental delays, other kinds of severe diseases and effects, rashes, neurological symptoms, vision loss, seizures and chronic conditions.”
  (Lawmakers want to hold military housing contractors financially accountable - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.))

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