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DHS pauses most contracting deadlines until after shutdown ends

January 24, 2019 By Andrew Smith

The Homeland Security Department’s top procurement official issued a special notice extending due dates for all unamended acquisition deadlines after Dec. 22, the day the department ran out of funding and shut down.

“Given the lapse in funding, there are significant limitations as to the number of employees and the type of work that may continue to be performed in a lapse status,” Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa wrote in a special notice to contractors posted Wednesday to FedBizOpps.

The notice gives vendors up to seven days after the shutdown resolves to submit bid proposals if the deadline passes before the department reopens.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/01/dhs-pauses-most-contracting-deadlines-until-after-shutdown-ends/154305/

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Coast Guard, contract funding, Customs and Border Protection, deadline, DHS, Federal Law Enforcement Training, funding, government shutdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Procurement Operations, Secret Service, shutdown, Transportation Security Administration

North Carolina couple sentenced for fraudulently claiming veteran and 8(a) small business status

October 10, 2016 By Andrew Smith

Justice Dept. seal - CopyRicky A. Lanier and his wife Katrina R. Lanier, both of LaGrange, N.C., have been sentenced to serve federal prison terms of 48 months and 30 months, respectively, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and major fraud against the United States. The couple were found guilty of these offenses on Dec. 17, 2015, following a 13-day jury trial in U.S. District Court. Their sentence was announced on Oct. 3, 2016.

According to evidence presented at trial, the Laniers conspired from November 2005 to April 2013 to defraud the government through a scheme to fraudulently obtain federal contracts intended to be awarded to businesses lawfully participating in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program and the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) Business Development program.  Specifically, they falsely represented that JMR Investments was eligible as an 8(a) business and that Kylee Construction was eligible as an SDVOSB and an 8(a) business.

Ricky Lanier, who had previously owned and operated an 8(a) business receiving government contracts, became ineligible to participate in the 8(a) program after that business graduated from that program in 2008.  Lanier used a friend and service-disabled veteran as the purported owner of Kylee Construction, representing that the friend was involved in the daily management of the business, even while the friend was working for a government contractor in Afghanistan.  The Laniers used a business, JMR Investments owned by Ricky Lanier’s college roommate, as a front to obtain construction contracts from the National Park Service and other federal agencies under the 8(a) program, misrepresenting the friend’s involvement in the management and operation of the business.  The scheme also involved subcontracting out all or almost all of the work on the contracts in violation of program requirements.

Ricky Lanier also defrauded the National Park Service in connection with a contract to replace a wastewater treatment facility at the Tremont Institute in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, falsely representing subcontractor costs by over $400,000, resulting in the award of a $1.1 million contract for work on the project that was actually performed by a subcontractor for only $550,000.  Lanier also fraudulently obtained a $1.3 million construction contract at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center which had been set aside for SDVOSBs.

As a result of the false representations, Kylee Construction was awarded over $5 million in government contracts and JMR Investments was awarded over $9 million in government contracts. The Laniers received almost $2 million in financial benefit from the scheme, using accounts of the shell companies for payment of personal expenses.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation which led to indictment and subsequent conviction of Ricky and Katrina Lanier included the VA-Office of Inspector General (OIG), SBA- OIG; and Department of the Interior, OIG, with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service.  Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Smith and Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Gunn represented the United States.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtn/pr/north-carolina-couple-sentenced-government-contract-fraud

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: 8(a), abuse, certification, DOJ, fraud, IG, Interior Dept., Justice Dept., misrepresemtation, National Park Service, OIG, ownership and control, SBA, SDVOSB, Secret Service, small business, subcontracting, VA, veteran owned business

Cloud contractor to pay U.S. $9M to settle false claims charges

May 14, 2015 By ei2admin

Global Computer Enterprises, a now-defunct federal contractor, and its owner Ray Muslimani, agreed to pay $9 million to the federal government to settle charges that GCE hid its use of prohibited employees on federal contracts with the Department of Labor and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

GCE supplied a cloud-based financial management service. GCE allegedly concealed is use of engineers and other employees who could not work on federal contracts due to their citizenship or U.S. immigration status.

Keep reading this article at: http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2015/05/08/gce-false-claims.aspx

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Coast Guard, DOJ, False Claims Act, FBI, GSA, Justice Dept., Labor Dept., Secret Service

4 face prison for alleged fraud in claiming 8(a) and SDVOSB status for millions of dollars of federal contracts

September 15, 2014 By ei2admin

Four individuals pleaded not guilty last week to three counts of fraud involving federal contracts intended for 8(a) and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

A federal grand jury in Greeneville, Tennessee returned an indictment on Aug. 12, 2013, against Ricky Anthony Lanier, 47, and Katrina Reshina Lanier, 40, of LaGrange, N.C.; Latoya Montrevette Speight, 37, of Snow Hill, N.C.; and Emanuel Louis Hill, 47, of Louisville, Ky., for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and major fraud against the United States.

These individuals appeared in court on Sept. 9, 2014 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Inman and pleaded not guilty. All were released on bond pending trial, which has been set for Nov. 18, 2014 in U.S. District Court, in Greeneville, Tennessee.

If convicted, they all face a term of 20 years in prison as to each wire fraud charge and up to 10 years in prison for the charges of major fraud against the United States. Additionally, they face fines of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release as to each count. The indictment also seeks forfeitures of approximately $15 million as to the Laniers and Speight and approximately $5 million as to Hill.

Details of this conspiracy are included in the indictment on file with the U.S. District Court, which alleges that the Laniers, Speight, and Hill conspired from November 2005 to April 2013 to defraud the United States government through a scheme to fraudulently obtain federal contracts intended to be awarded to businesses lawfully participating in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern program.

Court records state Ricky Lanier was an owner of Global Construction Inc. (GCI), which participated in the SBA’s 8(a) business development program from 1998 to 2007. Katrina Lanier and Speight worked at GCI.  From 2001 to 2007 GCI received over $23 million in federal contracts.

In 2007, however, GCI graduated from the 8(a) program and was no longer eligible to receive 8(a) set-asides.

Kylee Construction, founded in 2005, originally had a mailing address of Emanuel Louis Hill’s father’s home, then a post office box opened by Ricky Lanier, and eventually changed to Hill’s home address.   Between 2010 and 2013, Kylee Construction received over $5 million in contracts under the Department of Veterans Affairs program for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

Lanier also convinced a North Carolina-based company, JMR Investments, that he would handle all of their construction business.   From 2008 to 2013, JMR received over $9 million in federal contracts designated under SBA and VA programs.

This indictment is the result of an investigation by Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Department of Interior Office of Inspector General, Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, and United States Secret Service, with assistance from the National Park Service and General Services Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil Smith and David Gunn will represent the United States.

 

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: 8(a), DOJ, False Claims Act, fraud, GSA, IG, Interior Dept., National Park Service, SBA, SDVOSB, Secret Service, service disabled, small business, VA

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