The combination of record government procurement levels and the upward trend of qui tam and whistleblower actions have called for increased vigilance on behalf of our government contracting clients. With the Department of Justice’s creation of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force in 2006, extensive government resources have been dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of misconduct involving defective pricing, product substitution, misuse of classified or other sensitive information, false claims, grant fraud, labor mischarging, accounting fraud, fraud involving foreign sales, conflicts of interest and other ethical breaches. On the non-government purchasing side, ever more sophisticated schemes involving both purchasers and vendors test all companies at a time of increased corporate accountability. Our lawyers have a wealth of experience representing government contractors and their employees, as well as companies and institutions in general commerce, in matters involving allegations of procurement fraud.

These representations include:

• Conducting an internal investigation on behalf of a Fortune 1000 telecommunications hardware company in connection with allegations of inflated inventories and vendor kick-backs;
• Conducting an internal investigation on behalf of a major educational institution in connection with allegations of fraud in the procurement of construction services;
• Conducting an internal investigation on behalf of a computer manufacturer and representing that company in connection with a federal procurement fraud investigation involving computer sales to the Drug Enforcement Administration;
• Conducting internal investigations for a prime contractor on federal courthouse construction projects in connection with alleged Anti-Kickback Act violations and alleged procurement fraud, and representing that company in separate state criminal investigations; and
• Representing the general manager of a defense contractor in connection with a Department of Defense/Department of Justice investigation into an alleged conspiracy to circumvent manufacturing, testing and quality assurance requirements in the production of nuclear, biological and chemical filters for use in military tanks.