Insights

On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Division) and U.S. Postal Service announced the first-ever payment under the antitrust whistleblower rewards program, awarding $1 million to an individual whose information led to a $3.28 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with EBLOCK Corporation, an online auction platform for used vehicles.

Liesbeth Truyens, Economic Sanctions and Commercial Disputes Lawyer, Joins Crowell & Moring’s Brussels Office

On January 27, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Health Plan Management System (HPMS) memo that provided a long-awaited update on how the agency plans to approach previously announced Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) audits for Payment Years (PY) 2020-2024. The memo is the agency’s most comprehensive statement on the subject since September 25, 2025, when the Northern District of Texas vacated the 2023 RADV Final Rule. The memo makes clear that, while CMS has made certain operational adjustments in response to concerns expressed by Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs), the agency is largely pressing forward with the accelerated audit strategy announced in May 2025.

The federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) is celebrating its 10th anniversary.  After many years of consideration, in 2016, Congress passed and the President signed the DTSA.  Patterned on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act adopted in most states, the DTSA creates a federal cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets and thereby gives litigants a direct avenue into federal court.  Since then, the federal courts have been grappling with how to manage DTSA cases.  One issue still to be resolved is the absence of model jury instructions in most jurisdictions.

On January 26, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) circulated the Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Advance Notice to communicate proposed changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) capitation rates and Parts C and D payment policies.  The changes are expected to be finalized in April 2026 but may be delayed. The following is a summary of the most significant proposals, with further details below:

Seeking to protect their investments in the face of increased liability management exercises, lenders began signing “cooperation agreements,” which required the lenders to cooperate when negotiating to restructure existing debt or provide new debt to their shared borrower. These cooperation agreements protect lenders from “creditor-on-creditor violence” — when one lender (or a subset of lenders) renegotiates with a borrower to the benefit of the negotiating lender and the detriment of the others.

Congress has not passed funding bills to keep key parts of the government funded for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026—including the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security, as well as independent agencies, the judiciary, and national security and foreign operations functions. As Congress continues to negotiate a deal in advance of the expiration of funds on January 30, parts of the government may still face a short shutdown, given the time needed for both the Senate and the House to consider and approve legislation. In anticipation of that possibility, agencies whose funding is uncertain are preparing for a shutdown; contractors, grant recipients, and companies that work with those agencies should do the same. Our team is ready and available to advise through the shutdown process.

The sixth convening of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN) was held in Hanoi, Vietnam on January 15-16, 2026, under the theme “ASEAN Adaptive: From Connectivity to Connected Intelligence.” Senior government officials from across the 11 Southeast Asian nations that form the ASEAN bloc deliberated on key digital policy issues for the region’s economic growth, such as enhancing widespread AI adoption, combating online scams, promoting regional cyber resilience, and boosting digital infrastructure development.  These are aligned with the Philippines’ digital priorities as ASEAN’s Chair for 2026.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an unprecedented investigative sweep into “surveillance pricing” practices by grocers, hotels, and retailers, marking the first state-level inquiry targeting personalized pricing under data privacy laws.

As we previously reported, on January 16, 2026, the Department of War (DoW) announced an audit of 8(a) sole source awards over $20 million, joining the previously-announced audits by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and U.S. Treasury Department (discussed here and here).  A DoW memorandum also dated January 16, 2026 but only recently made public reveals that this audit is much broader in than originally announced.  Any active 8(a) sole source contract, 8(a) set-aside contract, or small business set-aside contract over $20 million is under scrutiny. 

On January 28, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it would reopen the comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations” for fourteen days. This NPRM, jointly published with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on August 7, 2025, introduces performance-based regulations for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations and the third-party services that support them. Although the NPRM’s initial comment period closed on October 6, 2025, the FAA is now accepting additional feedback through February 11, 2026, with a particular focus on the proposed rule’s right-of-way and detect-and-avoid requirements. The FAA previously rejected formal requests to extend the initial comment period, citing the deadline imposed by Executive Order 14307.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit may no longer be as favorable a venue for health plans engaged in legal disputes with members who allege that insufficiently detailed claim denials violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) protections against “arbitrary and capricious” decision making.

On January 23, 2026, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell T. Vought issued OMB Memorandum M-26-05 (Memo). The Memo rescinds prior OMB memoranda (M-22-18 and M-23-16) that required federal agencies to collect the Secure Software Development Attestation Form from entities selling software or products containing software to the U.S. government. The Trump administration previously retracted a Biden administration directive that called for formalization of the Attestation Form collection process in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Many in industry saw this as a sign that the Trump administration disfavored the Attestation Form. Now, the Memo has gone one step further to officially terminate agencies’ obligation to collect the Form from their software suppliers.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has rolled out changes to its 8(a) Program even as it suspends 8(a) participants for failure to respond to the SBA’s December 5, 2025 8(a) audit letters.

On January 13, 2026, Miami-based pharmaceutical wholesaler Atlantic Biologicals Corporation entered into a two-year DPA, admitting to conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, including more than 14 million opioid doses to “pill mill” pharmacies in Texas at a markup. The DOJ and DEA underscored the company’s deliberate evasion of compliance checks and disregard for red flags signaling diversion.

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide initiative established to standardize the security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud products and services used by federal agencies. FedRAMP’s primary objective is to ensure that cloud service providers (CSPs) implement robust security controls to protect federal information in cloud environments. By leveraging a consistent framework for security assessment and authorization, FedRAMP is intended to reduce duplication of effort, cost, and time for both agencies and vendors.

On January 16, 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted a video on social media outlining the U.S. Department of War’s (DoW) plan to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program. 

On January 14, 2026, the United States filed a lawsuit against the State of Minnesota in federal district court, challenging the state's affirmative action requirements for civil service employment as violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). This action comes almost a year after President Trump issued Executive Order 14173, which rescinded federal affirmative action requirements for federal government contractors and set up a potential conflict between federal requirements and certain state contracting requirements. The United States has designated this case as a matter of general public importance. This entitles the federal government to an expedited review by a three-judge panel at the district court with direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court—setting the path for a show-down on affirmative action in employment at the highest court.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its annual updates to the thresholds and filing fees related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act). These dollar thresholds are indexed annually based on changes in the U.S. gross national product and the Consumer Price Index.

On January 8, 2026, the Trump Administration announced the creation of a new Division for National Fraud Enforcement within the Department of Justice (DOJ). The division will be led by a newly appointed Assistant Attorney General (AAG), pending Senate confirmation, who will report directly to both the President and Vice President and operate out of the White House. Such a reporting structure is unprecedented in the history of the DOJ.