Government Procurement Fraud

February 26, 2021

United Airlines will pay a total of $49 million to resolve criminal and civil claims that its cargo division fraudulently overcharged the U.S. Postal Service under International Commercial Air (ICAIR) contracts by which United transported U.S. mail internationally.  While the contracts required United to bill the government based on the delivery of mail receptacles, as supported by departure and arrival scans of the receptacles, United submitted false data that was not based on actual scans or the movement of mail, and United employees who knew about the false data and billings took steps to conceal this information.  To resolve the criminal claims, United will pay $17.3 million in penalties and enter into a non-prosecution agreement including specific compliance and reporting requirements; to resolve civil claims under the False Claims Act, United will pay $32.2 million.  DOJ

February 19, 2021

Information Innovators Inc. (Triple I), a federal technology contractor in Virginia, has agreed to pay over $6 million to settle claims that a predecessor company knowingly overbilled the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on an Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions Contract (EAGLE contract) from 2007 to 2014.  The alleged False Claims Act violations by Creative Computing Solutions Inc. (CCSi) involved billing DHS for work performed by under-qualified CCSi employees at rates reserved for more qualified employees.  DOJ; USAO MD

February 17, 2021

French contractor COLAS Djibouti SARL will pay a total of $14.5 million to resolve claims that it supplied substandard concrete under a contract with the U.S. Navy for construction of Navy airfields in the Republic of Djibouti.  Colas Djibouti was required to certify that concrete supplied met contractual specifications for composition and characteristics, but made fraudulent misrepresentations and created fictitious testing results regarding the concrete’s composition and characteristics.  Defendant entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on criminal claims, paying $12.5 million ($10 million in forfeiture and restitution, and $2.5 million as a criminal penalty).  Defendant also entered into a civil settlement for  $3.9 million, receiving a credit of $1.96 million for its payment under the DPA.  DOJ; USAO SD Cal

January 11, 2021

Defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corporation and its subsidiary, Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, have agreed to pay over $515,000 to settle allegations of submitting false claims for payment.  Between 2006 and 2015, Raytheon and Hamilton improperly certified that goods it sold either directly to the government or to suppliers selling to the government were of domestic origin, when in fact they were manufactured in Romania.  The false certifications violated the contracts’ domestic-preference requirements, the Buy American Act of 1933, and the False Claims Act.  USAO CT

January 4, 2021

Georgia-based ready-mix concrete company Argos USA LLC entered into a settlement admitting that between 2010 and 2016 it conspired to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate the market for ready-mix concrete in Georgia and elsewhere.  As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Argos will pay a $20 million criminal penalty, institute a compliance program, and cooperate in ongoing investigations.  The unlawful actions included coordinated issuance of price-increase letters, the allocation of specific ready-mix jobs in the coastal Georgia area, the imposition of fuel surcharges and environmental fees, and the submission of bids at collusive and noncompetitive prices.  DOJ