pass-through | The Contracting Education Academy

July 14, 2020 By cs

Contractor to pay $1 million to settle claims of fraudulently representing airport work by small disadvantaged business

Williams Brothers Construction Inc. (WBCI) has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting its use of a small disadvantaged business to obtain a federally-funded construction contract, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced.

“The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program of the Department of Transportation creates important opportunities for small businesses to participate in construction projects paid for with federal funds,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will hold accountable those who misrepresent their compliance with program requirements to obtain taxpayer funds to which they are not entitled, and thereby undermine the program’s goal of supporting small businesses.”

The settlement resolves claims arising from WBCI’s construction of a new terminal building at the Peoria International Airport using Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant funds, and is based on the following factors:

The FAA grant required the use of disadvantaged business enterprises for part of the construction.
DOJ contends that WBCI knowingly made false representations regarding its plans to use a disadvantaged small firm on the project and then falsified documents to make it appear that an eligible business did window, glazing, and curtain wall work.
Instead, WBCI allegedly used that business only as a pass-through and had the work done by an ineligible company.

The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois, and U.S. DOT’s Office of Inspector General.

Readers are reminded that the claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/government-contractor-pay-1-million-settle-claims-fraudulently-representing-work-small

October 14, 2015 By AMK

Mass. AG cracksdown on DBE/MBE misrepresentations in subcontracts

The Massachusetts Attorney General is taking action to ensure that general contractors working on public construction are complying with state requirements to use DBE/MBE subcontractors.

In August 2015, the Attorney General filed suit (Comm of MA v. CTA Construction Co., Inc. et al., Suffolk Superior Court Civ. Action No. 2015-02491) against multiple contractors for allegedly violating the Massachusetts False Claims Act by making misrepresentations over their compliance with requirements for working with Minority Business Enterprises (MBE), Women Business Enterprises (WBE) and/or Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE).

The defendant contractors immediately settled for a combined $1.4 million.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/attorney-general-crackdown-on-dbe-mbe-58815/

April 22, 2013 By AMK

Focus of IG investigation now oversees GSA’s IT supply schedule program

An ongoing investigation by the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general into contract steering and wasteful spending raises questions about a former OPM official who left the agency in September 2011 to oversee the General Services Administration’s biggest federal supply schedules program.

The probe found that top OPM officials steered consulting work to prominent human resources expert Stewart Liff, raising broader concerns about the overall procurement practices inside the agency’s human resources services division, according to an interim report by OPM Inspector General Patrick McFarland.

Investigators found that Liff was hired in 2010 and 2011 without competitive bidding through a “pass-through company,” with three task orders paid out on the contract totaling about $450,000.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130416/ACQUISITION01/304160003/Focus-IG-investigation-now-oversees-GSA-8217-s-supply-schedule-program?odyssey=nav%7Chead

April 19, 2012 By AMK

Rep. Graves requests contract reforms in next NDAA

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the Small Business Committee, said on April 17 he would like several small-business contracting reforms, including a proposal to boost the annual small-business contracting goal, in the new defense authorization bill.

He made the recommendation to the Armed Services Committee in a hearing in which several House members asked the committee to include its suggested language in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. The committee is expected to release its language for the bill May 7.

“Improving small business opportunities for federal contracts is a triple play,” Graves told the committee in testimony. Small companies win more contracts, which create jobs, he said. Companies also bring more competition and innovation to the market and the government saves money through this and the industrial base stays healthy, added Graves.

In March, Graves’ committee approved eight bills to reform contracting and help small companies in the federal marketplace.

He pointed out that the Armed Services Committee’s own Panel on Business Challenges and the Small Business Committee’s legislation actually complement each other.

The panel concluded that small businesses face particular challenges in contracting with the Defense Department. DOD lacks a culture that fosters small-business participation, it said. More broadly, DOD has a confusing acquisition rule book that constantly changes, the panel said.

As for small-business reforms, one bill would raise the governmentwide small-business contracting goal from 23 percent to 25 percent — with budgetary consequences for missing the mark. Others would increase the level of responsibility for small-business advocates inside each agency, improve mentor-protégé programs and tackle unjustified contract bundling.

Another bill would address a deceptive contracting practice called pass-throughs. In a pass-through, a small company wins a contract set aside just for certain companies and then passes the majority of the work onto a large company.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. This article was published on Apr. 17, 2012 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/04/17/sam-graves-armed-services-committee.aspx?s=wtdaily_190412.

Williams Brothers Construction Inc. (WBCI) has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting its use of a small disadvantaged business to obtain a federally-funded construction contract, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced.

The Massachusetts Attorney General is taking action to ensure that general contractors working on public construction are complying with state requirements to use DBE/MBE subcontractors.

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