Isn’t GTRI an FFRD?
I worked for GTRI for nearly 30 years after 8 years in the AF and getting my degree from GIT. This suit is NOT against GTRI as I read it. It is for the Georgia Institute of Technology as a whole. The laboratory in question and contracts were to the university, not GTRI. BTW, GTRI is not an FFRD; it operates more as an FCRC (Federally Contracted Research Center).
The contracts for GIT and GTRI go through two different contracting organizations. GTRC (Georgia Tech Research Corporation) for the university and GTARC (Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation) for GTRI. They are used to bypass the normal state entity contracting organization, DOAS (Department of Administrative Services), because it is so SLOW.
Together, GTRI and GIT pull in nearly a billion dollars in research contracting, roughly half and half when I retired. So we’re talking hundreds of millions that GIT is on the hook for with this. It is likely the DOJ will win, at least on those contracts specifically awarded to ASTROLAVOS Laboratory. All because the director didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the security requirements. He’s in deep, deep do-do right now, I’d imagine. And those two cyber security whistleblowers stand to get a very hefty reward on the funds ‘recovered/disallowed.’