Fcpa Compliance Report

In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes Jessica Tillipman, Associate Dean for Government Procurement Law Studies; Government Contracts Advisory Council Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in Government Contracts Law, Practice & Policy. We take a deep dive into federal procurement and compliance. We begin with Tillipman’s recent article “Buying Blind: Corruption Risk and the Erosion of Oversight in Federal AI Procurement.” Tillipman explains how her initial focus on AI as a tool to reduce procurement risk shifted after finding instances of AI exploitation and U.S. regulatory changes, raising concerns that contracting practices (commercial terms, limited audit rights, reduced testing and documentation) worsen AI’s inherent opacity. She contrasts government contracting’s “superpower” rights with transparency and competition mandates tied to taxpayer funds and discusses procurement tradeoffs between speed and oversight. Tillipman distinguishes fraud from waste and abuse, warning against conflating categories. She anal