FAR Rules For Stimulus Funded Contracts: Alert 2 - Enhanced Whistleblower Protections

In our May 5, 2009, Alert, we addressed the recent issuance of five Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") Counsel interim rules¹ that are required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("ARRA" or "Stimulus Package"),² and discussed in more detail the interim rule incorporating existing and modified Buy American requirements.

In this second Alert in a series of five, we discuss the enhanced whistleblower protections.

Enhanced Whistleblower Protections (FAR Case 2009-012)

Whistleblower protections are not new to government contractors. Since 1863, the federal False Claims Act (initially targeting corrupt contractors fleecing the government over Union Army supplies) has protected, and in fact rewarded, employees who report fraud or other prohibited acts ("whistleblowers") with its qui tam provisions, which permit ordinary individuals to sue "for the King, as for himself."³ More recently, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 extended protection