Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

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Alpharetta man charged with conspiracy to defraud U.S. government

January 17, 2020 By Andrew Smith

Three men were charged recently in federal court in Boston with conspiracy to defraud the United States and mail fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain government contracts.

Frank Apicella, 63, of Groveland, Massachusetts; Michael Sforza, 59, of Alpharetta; and James Apicella, 37, of Kingston, New Hampshire, were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud.

According to the charging document, beginning in 2011 the defendants used Tactical Office Solutions, a company run by James Apicella, to bid for and obtain government contract work that was set aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and Historically Underutilized Business Zone companies.  Although the work was bid by and awarded to Tactical Office Solutions based under these set-aside programs, the work was actually mostly performed by FENS, a company owned and operated by Frank Apicella and Michael Sforza that was not eligible for these contracts.

Continue reading at:  Patch.com

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: limitation on subcontracting, performance of work requirements, set-aside

DOJ cracks down on set-aside contracting fraud

August 29, 2019 By Andrew Smith

This week, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued two press releases regarding companies and individuals that agreed to settle False Claims Act cases related to government contracting fraud.  United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced that Sunrise Systems of Brevard, Inc. had agreed to pay the United States $500,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims for government funds in violations of Small Business Administration regulations.  According to the settlement agreement, from December 10, 2013, through February 9, 2016, Sunrise partnered with a minority-owned small business, V&R Enterprises of Jacksonville, Inc., but violated the SBA’s labor and work performance requirements in order to access SBA set-aside funds.  The government alleged that Sunrise performed nearly all of the work on the joint venture project and received nearly all of the profits, in violation of the law.  In another case, Luke Hillier, the majority owner and former Chief Executive Officer of Virginia-based defense contractor ADS, Inc., agreed to pay the United States $20 million to settle allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently obtaining federal set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses that his company was ineligible to receive.

Both cases illustrate that it is critically important that companies both large and small know and understand the rules and regulations governing small business set-aside procurements.  This is especially important when it comes to performance of work requirements (limitations on subcontracting), which often require the small business on a set-aside procurement to do a requisite amount of work depending on the type of contract at issue.  On a set-aside contract that is restricted for a certain types of small business, it is often illegal for the small business to subcontract out all of the work to a large subcontractor.  Further, small businesses cannot be deemed affiliates or too closely affiliated with a large business or they could lose their small business size status.  Meaning, if your operations are so intertwined and dependent on a large business that you are essentially just a part of that large business, you could be deemed ineligible for small business set-aside work because you are too affiliated with that large business.  The intent of small business set-aside contracts is to truly help bonafide small businesses.  As a result, a substantial portion of the work and benefits of a set-aside contract need to go to small businesses.  If you need help understanding performance of work requirements, limitations on subcontracting, and the affiliation rules, please reach out to a GTPAC counselor and we would be happy to help.

Press releases:

Jacksonville Contractor Agrees to Pay $500,000 to settle False Claims Act liability

Former CEO of Virginia-Based Defense Contractor Agrees to Pay $20 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Related to Fraudulent Procurement of Small Business Contracts

 

 

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: affiliation, DOJ, Justice Dept. DOJ, limitation on subcontracting, performance of work requirements, SBA, set-aside

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