Government Contract Fraud
Whistleblowers often bring successful cases based on fraud in government contracting, sometimes known as “procurement fraud.”
Federal and state governments purchase goods and services ranging from weapons systems to computer consulting to uniforms, under a variety of procurement and government contracting rules and systems.
Fraud is committed by those who sell goods and provide services to the government in many different industries and through many different schemes and structures.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Committing Government Contract Fraud?
Contract fraud may be perpetrated by various actors in a variety of settings, including:
- Defense contractors
- Infrastructure, public works, and transportation projects
- Multiple Award Schedule contracts with the General Services Administration and other cooperative contracting arrangements
- Consulting and services contracts
- Information technology companies, including hardware manufacturers, software developers, and database companies.
- Correctional services industry, including private prison companies and others who contract to provide services to correctional and detention facilities.
- Subcontracting — subcontractors can be liable for defrauding the government even though they do not contract directly with the government
Types of Government Contract Fraud Cases
Varieties of fraud found in government contracting include:
- Fraudulently providing products or services that do not match the contract or regulatory specifications or products that have failed or not been through required quality assurance and testing procedures.
- Making misrepresentations regarding costs, prices and discounts in violation of “most favored customer” or “best pricing” requirements, price reduction clauses, and Truth in Negotiation Act requirements.
- Submitting false claims for inflated material costs or rates
- Cross charging by shifting costs from one government contract to a different government contract, or misallocating costs between government and private contracts
- Concealing cybersecurity vulnerabilities, computer hacks, and data breaches
- Providing goods or services that do not comply with the requirements of the Buy American Act, U.S. Trade Agreements, or other export control laws.
- Falsely certifying compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act or other prevailing wage requirements.
- Falsely claiming disadvantaged business status, or using sham subcontractors or other structures to circumvent small business, minority/women-owned business, or service-disabled veteran-owned business programs.
- Obtaining a government contract through bid-rigging, bribery, or other wrongful means.
These are just some examples of ways that contractors defraud the government. If the federal government is the contracting party, then a whistleblower may bring a claim under the federal False Claims Act. If state or local money is at issue, many states have a state False Claims Act under which a whistleblower may bring a claim. A False Claims Act case can even be brought by a competitor.
Contact a Government Contract Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer
Without insiders and whistleblowers exposing fraud in government contracts, most would go undetected. If you would like more information, or would like to speak to a member of the Constantine Cannon’s whistleblower lawyer team, please Contact us for a Confidential Consultation.
