FCA | The Contracting Education Academy

February 19, 2021 By cs

What to expect for False Claims Act enforcement under new Administration

Although Department of Justice (DOJ) recoveries under the False Claims Act (FCA) reached historic lows in FY2020, President Biden’s administration is poised to usher in a return to aggressive FCA enforcement.

Under President Obama, DOJ’s FCA recoveries hit all-time peaks, totaling over $5 billion in 2012, $6.1 billion in 2014, and $4.9 billion in 2016. From there, they trended consistently downward throughout the Trump Administration, averaging under $3 billion annually. Given the Biden Administration’s focus on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and stimulating the economy, we anticipate that DOJ’s scrutiny of alleged fraud in government programs will be as probing as ever.

In the 1980s, then-Senator Biden supported the seminal 1986 amendments to the FCA, emphasizing in his Senate remarks that enforcement should enjoy bipartisan support: “Fraud against the Government is not a matter that ought to be used for political advantage. . . . It is not a matter that divides Democrats from Republicans.”

More recently, as Vice President under President Obama, Biden famously oversaw the 2009 Recovery Act in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and touted the lower-than-average rate of fraud investigations into the stimulus spending. In 2011, he also led the Government Accountability and Transparency Board to advance efforts to detect and remediate fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs as part of the “Campaign to Cut Waste.” When announcing this campaign, he underscored his commitment “to changing the way government works and . . . stepping up the hunt for misspent dollars.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/government-contracts-procurement-ppp/1035290/what-to-expect-for-false-claims-act-enforcement-under-the-biden-administration

January 27, 2021 By cs

Cybersecurity and government contracting: False Claims Act considerations

As the recent SolarWinds Orion attack makes clear, cybersecurity will be a focus in the coming years for both governmental and non-governmental entities alike.

In the federal contracting community, it has long been predicted that the government’s increased cybersecurity requirements will eventually lead to a corresponding increase in False Claims Act (FCA) litigation involving cybersecurity compliance. This prediction may soon be proven true, as a December 2020 speech from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Granston specifically identified “cybersecurity related fraud” as an “area where we could see enhanced False Claims Act activity.”

This post discusses recent efforts to use the FCA to enforce cybersecurity compliance — and, based on those efforts, what government contractors may expect to see in the future.

In recent years, the government and qui tam plaintiffs have begun using the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with cybersecurity regulations, and some of these efforts have gained traction. For instance, in May 2019, a federal district court in California declined to dismiss a case alleging that a government contractor had falsely asserted its compliance with cybersecurity standards when entering into Department of Defense contracts. And in July 2019, the Department of Justice announced that another contractor had agreed to pay more than $8 million in connection with resolving a qui tam suit alleging failure to meet federal cybersecurity standards, marking the first settlement based on FCA allegations related to cybersecurity noncompliance.

More recently, however, at least one court rejected the attempt to build an FCA case out of alleged deviations from cybersecurity regulations.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2021/01/cybersecurity-and-government-contracting-false-claims-act-considerations/

July 1, 2016 By AMK

Little-noticed interim rule overshadows two Supreme Court procurement decisions

The cost of False Claims Act incidents could double. But nobody seems to know that.

The “Rule of Two” is mandatory for the Veterans Affairs Department no matter how well they are doing in meeting their small business goals.

When vendors sign an invoice and send it to the government for payment, they are acknowledging they have met the requirements under the contract.

These were the major outcomes from two cases decided last week by the nation’s highest court.

While both these cases will have long-lasting impacts on the federal procurement community, a little-known rule by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is what contractors really should be paying attention to over the summer.

The RRB issued an interim final rule May 2 to nearly double the cost per incident under the False Claims Act (FCA).

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2016/06/little-noticed-interim-rule-overshadows-two-supreme-court-procurement-decisions/

Although Department of Justice (DOJ) recoveries under the False Claims Act (FCA) reached historic lows in FY2020, President Biden’s administration is poised to usher in a return to aggressive FCA enforcement.

As the recent SolarWinds Orion attack makes clear, cybersecurity will be a focus in the coming years for both governmental and non-governmental entities alike.

The cost of False Claims Act incidents could double. But nobody seems to know that.

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