A recent Supreme Court opinion concerning the False Claims Act has at once broadened and constrained liability implications for contractors who do business with the federal government.
The False Claims Act subjects government contractors who knowingly present fraudulent payment claims to damages in the amount of three times of the fraud.
One of the biggest points of contention surrounding the law is whether filing an invoice binds contractors to “material” government regulations, even if they are not explicitly spelled out in the contract — so-called implied certification.
The Supreme Court’s 8-0 June 16 ruling in United Health Services v. U.S. stretched the latitude of contractor liability by adopting this implied certification, but balanced that ruling by raising the standard of what constitutes a material violation.
Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2016/06/20/scotus-false-claims