Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Technology company settles bid-rigging and contract kickback allegations for $1 million

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Justice Dept. seal - CopyThunderCat Technology, LLC, located in Virginia, has agreed to pay $1 million to settle civil False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Act, and Procurement Integrity Act claims relating to bid rigging and kickback schemes in connection with six government procurements.

The settlement resolves civil claims against ThunderCat relating to the criminal pleas entered by ThunderCat principal, co-owner, and general manager, Edwin Keith McMeans, and ThunderCat sales representative, Anthony Bilby.

Background

From September 2008 to February 2012, ThunderCat solicited or submitted inflated third party bids or “loser bids” during competitions for five government contracts and/or purchase orders awarded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and one government contract awarded by the General Services Administration (GSA).

In connection with one CBP contract, ThunderCat agreed to pay CPB employees 10 percent of ThunderCat’s profits on the contract in exchange for procurement sensitive independent government cost estimates prior to ThunderCat’s submission of its proposal.

The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the Offices of Inspector General for DHS and GSA.

Settlement Is Result of Allegations

It should be noted that the civil claims settled by this False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Act, and Procurement Integrity Act agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Criminal Case No. 1:15-cr-264 (Edwin Keith McMeans) and No. 1:13-cr-466 (Anthony Bilby).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/thundercat-agrees-civil-settlement-bid-rigging-and-kickback-schemes

NY firm pays $2.72 million to settle bid-rigging and kickback charges

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Sevenson Environmental Services Inc., an environmental remediation firm based in Niagara Falls, New York, has agreed to pay more than $2.72 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Act by accepting kickbacks, rigging bids and passing inflated charges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in connection with work performed at the Federal Creosote Superfund Site in Manville, New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced Nov. 17, 2014.  Sevenson was the prime contractor responsible for the cleanup of the Federal Creosote Site, which was funded by the EPA.

“The integrity of the public procurement process is severely undermined when federal contractors engage in anticompetitive contracting practices for their own personal gain,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General August E. Flentje for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “The Department of Justice will hold those accountable who abuse their positions at the public’s expense.”

“EPA is vigilant to ensure that the type of fraud perpetrated by Sevenson employees at Federal Creosote is not tolerated and that federal funds are recovered,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck.

The settlement resolves allegations that Sevenson solicited and accepted more than $1.6 million in kickbacks from six companies in exchange for the award of subcontracts for work at the Federal Creosote Site.  It also resolves allegations that Sevenson conspired with the subcontractors to pass the majority of those kickbacks to the EPA and that it conspired with one subcontractor to pass to the EPA additional inflated charges for soil disposal.

This case was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, with assistance from the New York Field Office of the department’s Antitrust Division, the EPA Region 2, the EPA’s Office of the General Counsel and the Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/sevenson-environmental-services-inc-agrees-pay-272-million-settle-claims-alleged-bid-rigging

Why the government can’t buy more like a business

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Commonly heard issues with federal government contracting (such as, “it takes too long,” “it’s too expensive,” “it’s overly bureaucratic,” or “it’s too burdensome”) often conclude with a determination that the government should adopt commercial acquisition practices.

Government contracting does have considerable regulation associated with it. The government version of “commercial contracting,” found in the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12, was an attempt to address this idea and has been somewhat successful. However, additional government-unique requirements have been added over time.

In many cases, a primary hurdle is that a customer can have unique requirements, making that customer the only customer.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140327/BLG06/303270007/Why-government-can-t-buy-more-like-business

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