Articles Posted in Contracting & Procurement Fraud

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iStock-1093288618-300x188Three Adobe employees filed False Claims Act lawsuits exposing the scheme and will share a $555K whistleblower reward.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying illegal kickbacks to software-reseller partners in return for their promotion of the company’s products to government customers.

The U.S. government was fraudulently tricked into purchasing unnecessary software licenses, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged. It was also allegedly deceived into purchasing software bundles containing applications it never requested, and fraudulently billed for software licenses for the personal use of government employees on their home computers.

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Georgia firm allegedly falsely certified that its firefighting foam complied with military specifications1005981-1517608943

Georgia-based Fire Service Plus Inc. has agreed to pay $985,131 to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly supplying “substandard” and “defective” fire suppression foam to the U.S. military, the Department of Justice has announced.

Noncompliant fire-fighting foam
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Qui tam whistleblower alleged that Aerojet Rocketdyne misled the government regarding itsiStock-1355638834-2-300x169 compliance with cybersecurity standards

Defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) has agreed to pay $9 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying its compliance with federal cybersecurity requirements in connection with multiple procurement contracts with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  The qui tam relator whose whistleblower complaint exposed the alleged fraud will receive a whistleblower award of $2.61 million.

Critical cybersecurity deficiencies
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Company allegedly gave government inflated cost and pricing data when negotiating no-bid contracts for drone-related military projects
Insitu drone.

Insitu drone. The company settled False Claims Act allegations that it inflated the prices of parts sold to the U.S. Navy and the Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

Insitu, Inc., a subsidiary of aerospace and defense contractor Boeing, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging it defrauded the government by passing off recycled and reconditioned drone parts and components as new under defense contracts with the U.S. Navy and the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The former Insitu employee who filed the qui tam lawsuit and thereby exposed the fraud received a whistleblower reward of $4.6 million.

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Second Circuit rules that relevant government “payment decision” under Escobar included Veterans Administration’s initial decision to award contracts based on claim that contractor qualified as a “service-disabled, veteran-owned small business”—not just the VA’s subsequent decisions to make payments under those contracts

In a key victory for the federal government and qui tam whistleblowers, the Second Circwhistlebloweruit Court of Appeals has affirmed that false statements regarding eligibility to take part in government programs—and not just subsequent false claims for payment after being allowed to participate—are actionable under the False Claims Act notwithstanding the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 landmark decision in Universal Health Services v. Escobar. The court in United States v. Strock rejected the idea that the only relevant “payment decision” under Escobar was the decision to pay a contractors’ invoices without regard to the initial decision to award the contract.

Impact on False Claims Act cases involving eligibility
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Firm allegedly provided government with inaccurate cost data during contract negotiations, failed to disclose that estimates had been reduced by automation of manual tasks.

Federal prosecutors have announced that CDM Smith, an environmental engineering and construction firm located in Fairfax, Virginia, has agreshutterstock_752242222-300x200ed to pay $5.6 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by overcharging the U.S. Navy in connection with two waste water system contracts.  The company employee who blew the whistle on the misconduct by filing a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act stands to receive a significant whistleblower reward.

Inaccurate cost and labor figures used

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Despite whistleblower claims, federal agency insists it wasn’t defrauded

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Guardrail spears driver’s side door of car in Gurnee, IL, in 2013. Harman alleged that the crash involved Trinity’s ET-Plus guardrail.

The anti-fraud bar is focused on the upcoming oral argument in the appeal of the trial verdict in United States ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc., calendared for Dec. 7, 2016, before the Fifth Circuit. The $663 million verdict — the largest in the history of the federal False Claims Act — raises questions going to heart of the False Claims Act’s qui tam (whistleblower) provisions.  Those provisions enable private parties who have evidence of fraud against the government to bring civil lawsuits for the recovery of damages on the government’s behalf. Successful qui tam whistleblowers receive bounties of 15-30% of what the government receives.

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