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August 5, 2019 By AMK

New DoD policy aims to crack down on alleged price gouging by TransDigm

Defense procurement officials have taken a step toward cracking down on what they have called price gouging within the military spare parts market. They issued a new edict that requires DoD contracting officers to gather cost and pricing data when they enter into agreements with TransDigm Group.

The memo, signed on Friday by Kim Herrington, DoD’s acting director for Defense Pricing and Contracting, tells contracting officers they must “require” that TransDigm turn over uncertified cost data to support the prices the company is charging the government. The mandate applies to situations where TransDigm or its subsidiaries are the only makers of a particular part, a scenario that applies to the vast majority of the company’s business.

The order also tells contracting officers to treat many of their contracts for parts the company makes as non-competitive — even when two or more resellers are bidding to supply the same item.

“The definition of adequate price competition does not address the fact that a sole manufacturer (such as TransDigm) participating in a competition can effectively control the competition by its ability to establish the material pricing for all other offerors,” Herrington wrote. “In these situations, the department does not consider such rigged competitions to be adequate price competition, based on independently submitted offers.”

The memo is highly unusual in that it targets one particular company, rather than laying out a broadly-applicable policy.

It was prompted by a February 2019 DoD inspector general report which found that TransDigm was routinely earning “excess profits” in its Defense contracts. For 17 of the 47 parts in a sample auditors examined, they calculated the company’s profit margins at 1,000% or more, and deemed all but one of the parts to have been marked up to unreasonable levels.

Keep reading article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2019/06/new-dod-policy-aims-to-crack-down-on-alleged-price-gouging-by-transdigm/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: adequate price competition, cost and pricing data, Defense Pricing and Contracting, DoD, policy, price gouging, spare parts, TINA, TransDigm

June 14, 2018 By AMK

Court enters judgment against couple for overcharging DLA for spare vehicle parts

A New Jersey couple has been ordered to pay $232,891.37 to the United States for overcharging the military for light assemblies for munitions vehicles for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

The defendants, New Jersey residents Babu Metgud and Shubhada Kalyani, operated Shubhada Industries, a defense contractor. The United States, as the plaintiff, moved for summary judgment against Metgud and Kalyani. In granting the United States’ motion, the district court entered judgment against the individual defendants, awarding damages and imposing the maximum penalty allowable under the False Claims Act.

The case arose from a contract in which Shubhada Industries agreed to manufacture light assemblies for DLA. Instead of actually manufacturing those parts, Shubhada purchased them from a third party and charged the government a total purchase price of $73,842 — which amounted to a 5,400 percent mark-up of the cost price, according to the court’s opinion. When the government questioned the cost, Metgud justified it by explaining that costs sometimes seem very high “to untrained eyes.”

Under the False Claims Act, a person who causes false or fraudulent claims to be submitted to the government for payment is liable for three times the government’s damages, plus civil penalties for each false claim. The court’s judgment consists of three times the amount the DLA paid, plus a civil penalty of $11,000, which the court noted was “at the top of the statutory range.”

In imposing this maximum penalty, the court explained that Metgud and Kalyani did not disclose to the agency their purchase of the light assemblies from someone else. In addition, the court opined the individuals “have not been forthright or cooperative in the Government’s investigation of the claims alleged in the amended complaint,” and seemed to “shrug off” the investigation and the court proceeding.

“Those who do business with the government must treat taxpayers fairly,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “This case demonstrates my Office’s commitment to holding accountable defense contractors and others who try to game the system for personal profit at the military’s expense.”

The case is significant because the government, as the plaintiff and moving party at summary judgment, obtained a judgment on the merits and without a trial. It is also significant because the district court’s judgment was based in part on its conclusion that it could draw an adverse inference against the individual defendants who invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Macko handled the case, which arose from an investigation led by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/court-enters-judgment-against-new-jersey-couple-overcharging-military-spare-vehicle

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, criminal activity, DCIS, DLA, DOJ, false claims, False Claims Act, fraud, Justice Dept., spare parts

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