Five subcontractors and two individuals have paid the government nearly $1.9 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by falsely representing themselves as small disadvantaged businesses.
According to a Department of Justice press release, the subcontractors self-certified as SDBs to their prime contractors, and those self-certifications were then passed on to the government.
Interactions with federal Contracting Officers are part and parcel of government contracts, but many traps exist for the unwary.
To help contractors understand the rules surrounding communications with contracting officials, I am pleased to announce that I will be presenting a seminar entitled “Dealing with Government Contracting Officials: What Can You Really Say And Do?” on April 29 in Wichita, Kansas. The seminar is sponsored by the Kansas PTAC, and admission is free. For more information, and to register, simply follow this link.
See you there!
A Connecticut construction company has agreed to pay more than $2.4 million to resolve fraud claims related to an alleged DOT DBE “pass through” scheme.
According to a DOJ press release, as part of the resolution, the construction company has admitted that it made false statements to the government that a DBE performed more than $3 million in subcontracted work, when in fact, that work was performed by a non-DBE.
Although an agency may consider the past performance of an offeror’s affiliates under certain circumstances, the extent of the agency’s past performance review is governed by the terms of the solicitation.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that an agency properly refused to consider the past performance of the offeror’s parent company because the solicitation restricted the scope of the agency’s past performance review.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly awarded a $141 million sole source contract in exchange for the contractor’s agreement to withdraw a GAO bid protest.
According to a recent GAO bid protest decision, the award violated the Competition in Contracting Act, which does not permit an agency to award a sole source contract in exchange for a contractor’s promise to terminate litigation against the agency.
The VA failed to verify the accuracy of a contractor’s representation that it was a veteran-owned small business, according to a new report issued by the VA’s Office of Inspector General.
According to the VA OIG, the VA failed to verify the claim of Westar Development Company, LLC to be a VOSB–and “[t]he evidence does not support a finding that Westar is or ever has been a Veteran-Owned Small Business.” The VA’s failure to verify Westar’s VOSB status is just one of many serious flaws identified by the VA OIG in its audit of the award of a major VA lease to Westar.
A Maryland man has pleaded guilty in an 8(a) fraud case involving a company that received more than $52 million in 8(a) contracts to which it was not entitled.
According to a Department of Justice press release, Vernon Smith pleaded guilty to charges that he (not the company’ s disadvantaged majority owner) exercised complete control over the company’s day-to-day management and long term decision making.