Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Pentagon requests voluntary refund of millions of dollars from contractor TransDigm

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The Army and Defense Logistics Agency will both seek reimbursement on millions of dollars from contractor TransDigm, following an Inspector General report into the company’s contracts with the Pentagon.

TransDigm, which produces specialized parts for aircraft such as pumps, valves and batteries,, earned “excess profit” 112 of 113 contracts reviewed by the IG’s office, per a report released last Wednesday. The IG found that the company received $16.1 million in excess profit between January 2015 and January 2017, with a cost that could go up due to spare parts in the future.

The 112 contracts, signed with the Army or DLA, had profit margins ranging from 17 to a whopping 4,451 percent; The IG’s office calls profit percentages of 15 percent or below to be “reasonable.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/02/27/pentagon-requests-voluntary-refund-of-millions-of-dollars-from-contractor-transdigm/

$3.6 million settlement resolves procurement fraud investigation involving 8(a) firm

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VMJ Construction, LLC (VMJ) and its owner, Colorado resident Michael T. Vigil, as well as Maryland-based Vigil Contracting, Inc. (Vigil Contracting) and its operations manager, John J. Vigil, have agreed to pay the United States $3.6 million to resolve allegations that they defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program.

The SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program for economically and socially disadvantaged small businesses serves dual roles.

  • First, the program helps socially and economically disadvantaged small business owners gain access to valuable federal contracts, thereby promoting economic and social mobility.
  • Second, the program saves taxpayers money by spurring a competitive marketplace.  By promoting the development of small businesses, the 8(a) Program helps prevent the formation of monopolies that would stifle innovation and restrict consumers’ ability to negotiate lower prices.

It is important that the 8(a) Program is reserved only for companies that actually meet the program’s criteria because misuse of the program deprives legitimate 8(a) Program participants of valuable economic opportunities and undermines the integrity of the program.

There are several rules that businesses in the 8(a) program must abide by.

  • The socially and economically disadvantaged owner of the business must manage the day-to-day operations of the company and have responsibility for the long-term decision-making for the company.
  • 8(a) Program applicants must also truthfully disclose any affiliation with other businesses so that SBA may accurately assess whether the applicant meets the definition of a small business, and whether the applicant shows potential for success and the ability to perform the requisite percentage of the contracts secured through the Program.
  • Businesses also cannot remain in the 8(a) Program indefinitely; after nine years, they graduate from the program and are no longer eligible to bid on 8(a) contracts.

VMJ was accepted into the 8(a) Program in 2011.  Michael T. Vigil, who is Hispanic, was the 91% owner of VMJ, and was the socially and economically disadvantaged individual upon which VMJ based its application to the 8(a) program.  John J. Vigil was a 9% owner of VMJ.  John J. Vigil was also the operations manager of Vigil Contracting.  Vigil Contracting is a 2011 graduate of the 8(a) Program.  Since 2011, Vigil Contracting has not been eligible to bid for contracts reserved for 8(a) program participants.

The United States contends that VMJ made false statements to the SBA regarding its eligibility to participate in the 8(a) program.  Specifically, VMJ relied almost exclusively upon Vigil Contracting to bid on and complete the work awarded to VMJ under the 8(a) program.  VMJ used Vigil Contracting’s bonding, office space, employees, contractors, software, computers, and vehicles.  Vigil Contracting employees and contractors, including John J. Vigil, made the high-level business decisions of VMJ and managed the day-to-day operations of VMJ.   Michael T. Vigil did not control VMJ, did not set the long-term policy, nor manage the day-to-day management of the business.  VMJ knowingly misrepresented these facts to SBA, in both VMJ’s initial application to participate in the 8(a) program and in an annual update to SBA.  As a result of the deception, the Army, the Navy, and the Department of Agriculture awarded VMJ several federal government contracts set aside for 8(a) program participants.

“The United States uses these set-aside contracts for a clear reason — to help small businesses owned by economically and socially disadvantaged individuals.  This program continues the promise of the American Dream by helping new small businesses get on their feet, and with more businesses on their feet, our markets are healthier and more competitive,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn. “When companies lie about their eligibility to get these contracts, they prevent other deserving small businesses from getting the assistance that Congress intended.”

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/36-million-settlement-resolves-procurement-fraud-investigation-against-colorado-and

Partner of military contractor sentenced to prison for bribery scheme related to contracts in support of Iraq war

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A former business partner of a U.S. military contractor was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison for his role in a years-long scheme to bribe U.S. Army contracting officials stationed at a U.S. military base in Kuwait during the Iraq War.

Finbar Charles, a citizen of Saint Lucia most recently residing in Baguio City, Philippines, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the Northern District of Alabama.  Chief Judge Bowdre also ordered Charles to forfeit $228,558 in illicit gains.  Charles pleaded guilty in July 2018 to one count of bribery of a federal official.

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Charles was a business partner of a former U.S. military contractor, Terry Hall.  As Hall’s business partner, Charles admitted that he facilitated Hall and others in providing millions of dollars in bribes in approximately 2005 to 2007 to various U.S. Army officials in exchange for preferential treatment for Hall’s companies in connection with Department of Defense (DoD) contracts to deliver bottled water and construct security fencing to support U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait and Iraq.

As part of his role in this criminal conspiracy, Charles admitted that he managed bank accounts in Kuwait and the Philippines that he used to receive DoD payments and transfer illegal bribes to various U.S. Army contracting officials, including Majors Eddie Pressley, James Momon, and Chris Murray.  All of those individuals, as well as at least 10 other co-conspirators, have pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes relating to this scheme.  Charles admitted that he falsified loan and consulting agreements to conceal the true nature of the bribe payments to the Army officers, and that he personally received over $228,000 in illicit gains as a result of his participation.

This case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the FBI, and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in this matter.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-business-partner-us-military-contractor-sentenced-prison-bribery-scheme-related

Former company owner sentenced for $13.7 million ‘rent-a-vet’ scheme

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A former operator of a Kansas City construction company, Patriot Company, Inc., was sentenced in federal court last week for his role in a “rent-a-vet” scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $13.7 million in federal contracts.

Jeffrey K. Wilson was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison without parole. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Wilson has also consented to the federal civil forfeiture of approximately $2.1 million.

On Jan. 31, 2018, Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of government program fraud. Co-defendant Paul R. Salavitch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a false writing and awaits sentencing.

Wilson, who is not a veteran, managed the day-to-day operations and the long-term decision-making of Patriot Company from September 2005 to January 2014. Wilson and Salavitch falsely certified that Salavitch, who is a service-disabled veteran, was involved in the day-to-day operations of Patriot Company. Salavitch’s purported active management qualified Patriot Company to obtain set-aside contracts to which it was not entitled.

Wilson admitted he used Salavitch’s veteran and service-disabled veteran status in a “rent-a-vet” scheme to obtain 20 government contracts for which Patriot Company received more than $13.7 million.  As a result of the fraud scheme, legitimate veteran-owned-and-run businesses were not awarded these contracts. In one instance, according to court documents, Wilson brazenly challenged the government’s award of a set-aside contract to a service-disabled veteran bidder and Patriot Company fraudulently obtained that contract.

Wilson’s plea agreement cites 20 contracts with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Army, which were fraudulently obtained by Wilson, Salavitch and Patriot Company. The contracts, which ranged as high as $4.3 million, included construction projects in Missouri, South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois and North Dakota.

In September 2013, the Veterans Administration conducted an unannounced site visit of Patriot Company. The site inspector discovered that Salavitch was working 40 miles away at his full-time job as a federal employee with the Department of Defense in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Wilson did not stop violating the law even after the government’s site visit.  Instead, Wilson and Salavitch fought cancellation of Patriot Company’s status. In November 2013, Salavitch falsely certified to the Missouri Division of Purchasing and Materials Management that Patriot Company was a legitimate service-disabled veteran-owned small business when he knew it was not because he did not actively run the company. In December 2013, the Veterans Administration de-certified Patriot Company.

This case was investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General – Criminal Investigation Division, and the General Services Administration – Office of Inspector General.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/former-company-owner-sentenced-137-million-rent-vet-scheme

Government’s delayed response breached contract, says ASBCA

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Note: Author of “The Small Business Guide to Government Contracts,” Steven J. Koprince blogged recently about a recent ruling by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) that the government breached a contract when it waited more than three months to respond to a contractor’s request to amend the contract’s scope of work.  Here is his writing, along with a link to his post:

Here’s a situation my colleagues and I see with some frequency: a contractor, in the course of working on a government contract, submits a request of some sort to the agency.  Then waits for a response.  And waits some more.  Meanwhile, the government’s delay in responding prevents the contractor from moving forward with some aspect of the project, causing the contractor to incur costs.

For contractors faced with this type of government inaction, a recent decision by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals is welcome news.  In that case, the ASBCA held that the government breached its implied duty of good faith and fair dealing by waiting more than three months to respond to the contractor’s request to amend the Statement of Work – allowing the contractor to “twist in the wind” during that period.

The ASBCA’s decision in Relyant, LLC, ASBCA No. 59809 (2018) involved an Army contract for the acquisition of pre-fabricated relocatable buildings (abbreviated “RLBs” in the decision) for use at two different sites in Afghanistan.

The solicitation’s Statement of Work included certain specifications for the RLBs.  Among those specifications, the SOW required the installation of gypsum interior drywall to the interior of the shipping containers that would cover fiberglass insulation.  But in its proposal, Relyant, LLC proposed a different configuration: the use of a “sandwich panel,” including Styrofoam as the insulator instead of separate insulation and drywall.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/claims-and-appeals/governments-delayed-response-breached-contract-says-asbca/

DoD must work harder to include small business contractors, audit says

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An audit of two Army Contracting Command centers in Redstone, Alabama and Warren, Michigan, revealed The Department of Defense (DoD) must increase its efforts in order to meet small business subcontracting goals.

The DoD Inspector General Audit was carried out in three different branches. One audit was performed on the Army, and two each on the Marine Corps and the Air Force. According to the audit, small businesses may have lost opportunities because protocols were not followed which could have encouraged more small businesses to be part of the federal marketplace.

Small businesses have been specifically included in the federal contract bidding process to both support and encourage growth in communities across the country. Head of the House Small Business Committee U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri) announced in Nov. 2017 his desire to raise the federal government’s contracting goal for small businesses to 25 percent, a two percent increase from the current 23 percent target for contracts to be awarded to small businesses today.

Keep reading this article at: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/05/defense-contracts-for-small-businesses.html

Judge imposes maximum sentences in Fort Gordon bid-rigging conspiracy

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Two men who took part in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme involving $54 million in contracts at Fort Gordon received the maximum prison terms of five years last Wednesday despite the recommendation from the U.S. Attorney’s office for a reduction in their sentence.

Calvin Lawyer, 60, and Dwayne O. Fulton, 59, admitted in November to their roles in the conspiracy that ran from 2008, when Lawyer retired as a full colonel and started his own business called Communications Research Engineering and Consultant Group with the goal of obtaining government contracts. But Lawyer didn’t need to compete with other contractors because he paid bribes to ensure he got no-bid contracts from his former subordinate Col. Anthony Roper.

After learning they were under investigation in 2016, Lawyer, Roper and his wife, Audra Roper, and Fulton, who worked for the large defense contractor Kratos Defense & Security Solutions inc., fabricated documents to try to cover their tracks.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20180523/judge-imposes-maximum-sentences-in-fort-gordon-bid-rigging-conspiracy

Read earlier posts about this case here:

Army posts pre-bid notices for U.S.-Mexico border wall work

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The Department of the Army has issued pre-bid notices for multiple award task order contracts (MATOCs, here and here) for U.S.-Mexico border wall construction, maintenance and repair work in California (San Diego, El Centro), Arizona (Yuma, Tucson)  and Texas (Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Big Bend, El Paso).

The Texas MATOC work ranges in value from $2,000 to $350 million and has a cap of $5 billion. Awards from $2,000 to a maximum of $25 million are set aside for small businesses, and unrestricted awards range from more than $25 million to $350 million. The Army plans to award 10 contracts, split evenly between small businesses and unrestricted bidders. Work will include new construction, repairs and alterations to fences, walls, roads, lighting, gates and drainage improvements. Work under the combined California/Arizona MATOC includes many of the same items as in the Texas contracts and has the same funding and set-aside guidelines.   

The Army expects to issue the official solicitation May 23, with proposals due Aug. 15.  Bids will be evaluated in a two-phase process. The first phase will consider each bidder’s experience, technical approach, small business participation and past performance, in that order. The second phase will consider technical proposals from selected companies and each one’s construction approach, summary schedule and bid price.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/army-posts-pre-bid-notices-for-us-mexico-border-wall-work/523458/

U.S. Attorney for Southern District of GA announces results of recent procurement fraud prosecutions

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As part of a new emphasis on procurement fraud enforcement within the Southern District of Georgia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia has announced the results of a series of recent procurement fraud prosecutions.

Over the past several months, the strike force’s efforts resulted in five guilty pleas and twelve civil settlements, including the following publically available actions:

  1. United States of America v. Dwayne Fulton (1:17-CR-35)
  2. United States of America v. Calvin Lawyer (1:17-CR-35)
  3. United States of America v. Anthony Roper (1:17-CR-35)
  4. United States of America v. Audra Roper (1:17-CR-35)
  5. United States ex rel. Major Contracting Services, Inc. v. Military Training Solutions, LLC and ADCO Holdings, Inc., et al. (4:16-cv-115)
  6. United States of America v. Robert Obradovich (4:18-CR-47)

These prosecutions and civil settlements with the named individuals and entities, as well as others, stemmed from a wide variety of fraudulent conduct, including bribery of public officials, illegal kickbacks, illegal arrangements between large contracting companies and certified small or 8(a) businesses acting as “front” companies, and billing for services not rendered.  Each of the individuals who has pled guilty awaits sentencing.  The total financial recovery for the United States thus far has exceeded $7.4 million.  Several of these investigations remain ongoing.

“The Southern District of Georgia is the proud home of several major military installations that serve a vital role both in our national defense and the district’s local economy,” said United States Attorney Bobby L. Christine.  “Those who do business with these installations should be on notice – ripping off the United States will not be tolerated! This office will bring to bear the full weight of our resources to hold fraudsters accountable.”

The joint strike force that led to these convictions and settlements involved agents, investigators, and auditors from the Department of Justice, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Army Criminal Investigation Command (Major Procurement Fraud Unit), Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.  Significant and critical assistance was also provided by civilian and military personnel from the Army, Navy, and Air Force stationed at affected military installations.

“The American public expects the Department of Defense (DoD) to spend limited taxpayer funds efficiently and economically.  Bribery and other corrupt behavior by public officials and defense contractors diverts and wastes precious dollars intended to provide critical products and services for our Warfighters.  These results demonstrate the effectiveness of investigative efforts by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to protect the integrity of all DoD programs,” said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, Southeast Field Office.

“These settlements stand as proof of the tenacity of our special agents,” said Frank Robey, director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit. “It is important for those who conspired to profit from illegal payments take responsibility for their actions. The settlements hold the defendants accountable and send a message to others that these violations will be taken seriously.”

“Our partnership with the joint procurement fraud strike force ensures fair and open competition for U.S. Government contracts which support the training and readiness of Marine Corps personnel,” said H. Andrew Goodridge, Special Agent in Charge, NCIS Carolinas Field Office.

“SBA OIG will aggressively investigate allegations of fraud involving SBA’s preferential contracting programs, to include false statements made to gain access to contracting opportunities set aside for small businesses,” said SBA OIG Eastern Region Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kupperbusch.  “SBA’s preferential contracting programs are intended to promote the economy and grow and develop small businesses across the nation.  I want to thank the U.S Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and hard work throughout these investigations.”

SBA’s General Counsel, Christopher Pilkerton said, “These successful prosecutions demonstrate the tremendous results achieved through the combined efforts of federal agencies to uncover and forcefully respond to procurement fraud.  SBA is strongly committed to identifying and aggressively pursuing instances of fraud perpetrated by those participating in SBA’s procurement programs.”

The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Brian T. Rafferty, Shannon H. Statkus, J. Thomas Clarkson, Matthew A. Josephson, and Jonathan A. Porter.  Any claims resolved by the civil settlement agreements are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Each of the civil settlements resolved potential liability under the False Claims Act.  Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers can be entitled to a portion of the amount recovered by the United States.  The United States Attorney’s Office also reminds contractors that businesses and individuals that self-disclose potential violations can be eligible for significantly reduced penalties.

If you have any information regarding potential procurement fraud, please contact Assistant United States Attorney J. Thomas Clarkson at (912) 201-2601.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/southern-district-georgia-announces-results-recent-criminal-and-civil-procurement-fraud

Fort Benning to hold small business open house on May 24th

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Fort Benning, Georgia, Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) invites small businesses to attend an Acquisition Forecast Open House on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

Representatives from various Fort Benning activities, including MICC officials, will be on hand to provide their forecast of various contracting opportunities for 2018 and into the future.

MICC-Fort Rucker will also provide its forecast of acquisitions at Fort Rucker, Alabama, for the fiscal year and into the future.

Date: Thursday, May 24, 2018

Time:

  • Forecast Open House – 9:00am to 12:00pm
  • Event Sign-In: 30 minutes prior

Free to attend, but pre-registration is required – Complete the registration form available here: Updated Registration_Form_-May_2018_- Ft Benning Ft Rucker MICC – Acquis…

Location: McGinnis-Wickham Hall, Room West 105, 1 Karker Street (Building 4), Fort Benning, GA 31905

No fee to attend, but PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED!

RECOMMENDATION: Due to the heightened security on Fort Benning please arrive approximately one hour prior to the event.  NOTE: It is against Fort Benning Installation policy to use cellular phones that are not hands free. Violations may result in a traffic fine.

 

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