Computing

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against APL Limited who is accused of overcharging and double-billing the Department of Defense. The whistleblower will receive a $5.2 million share of the government's recovery.

The whistleblower case, filed in October 2004, alleged that APL, a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited, knowingly overcharged and double-billed the Department of Defense to transport thousands of containers from ports to inland delivery destinations in Iraq and Afghanistan by inflating its invoices in several ways. For example, APL billed in excess of the rate it paid to plug refrigerated containers holding perishable cargo into a source of electricity at a port in Karachi, Pakistan; billed in excess of the contractual rate to maintain the operation of refrigerated containers at a port in Karachi and at U.S. military bases in Afghanistan; and billed for various non-reimbursable services performed by APL’s subcontractor at a Kuwaiti port.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against PC Specialists Inc., doing business as Technology Integration Group (TIG), who is accused of inflating prices of computers sold through another company to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

The whistleblower's recovery amount has not been determined.

The case was filed in 2014 and alleged that from 2003 to 2013, TIG sold Dell computers to Sandia Corporation for resale to the United States under Sandia’s contract with the NNSA.  The NNSA purchased the computers for use at Sandia National Laboratories.  The United States alleged that TIG knowingly inflated the amounts it charged Sandia by failing to give credits for rebates and discounts it received from Dell as required by its contract and causing false claims to the government for the inflated prices.  

In a separate but related matter, in April 2015, TIG entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Mexico regarding allegations that three employees in TIG’s Albuquerque branch office engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by inflating the amounts it charged Sandia for computers.  The non-prosecution agreement in that matter required TIG to terminate the employment of the three employees in its Albuquerque branch office – a vice president, a senior account executive and an accounts executive – who participated in and profited from the scheme.  The non-prosecution agreement also required TIG to retain and pay for an independent monitor selected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office who is responsible for monitoring TIG’s compliance with the agreement, and TIG policies, procedures and training relating to federal government contracts over the agreement’s three-year term. 

A settlement has been reached to resolve False Claims Act allegations against Quicksort Inc, Quicksort LA Inc and Quicksort Sacramento Inc.  They are accused of false representing the pre-sort level of mail they submitted to the U.S. Postal Service.

The settlement resolves allegations that the Quicksort companies misrepresented the pre-sort level of mail they submitted to the U.S. Postal Service at various times in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The U.S. Postal Service offers lower postage rates to mailers who automate and sort their mail by zip code because these steps save the Postal Service time and money. Mailers use the services of businesses such as Quicksort that combine the mail of many customers and pre-sort it in order to qualify for the pre-sort discounts. After processing customers' mail, these pre-sort businesses present the mail to the Postal Service for mailing.

A settlement has been reached to resolve False Claims Act allegations against Cisco Systems and Westcon Group North America (formerly d.b.a. Comstor). They are accused of making misrepresentations to the General Services Administration (GSA) and other federal agencies.

Under the terms of this agreement, the United States has agreed to dismiss a whistleblower case filed in 2004.

The United States alleged that Cisco and Westcon knowingly provided incomplete information to GSA contracting officers during negotiations in regard to Westcon's contract with the GSA, which resulted in defective pricing of Cisco products and submission of false claims to the United States.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Hewlett-Packard Co who is accused of defrauding the General Services Administration (GSA) and other federal agencies.

The whitsleblowers' recovery amount was not disclosed.

The allegations made were from a whistleblower case that was originally filed in 2004.  The United States alleged that HP knowingly paid kickbacks, or “influencer fees,” to systems integrator companies in return for recommendations that federal agencies purchase HP’s products.  The settlement also resolves claims that HP’s 2002 contract with the GSA was defectively priced because HP provided incomplete information to GSA contracting officers during contract negotiations. 

A settlement has been reached to resolve False Claims Act allegations against Spectranetics Corporation who is accused of causing false claims to be submitted to the Medicare Program.

The United States allegations were that the company illegally imported unapproved medical devices and provided them to physicians for use in patients, conducted a clinical study in a manner that failed to comply with federal regulations and promoted certain products for procedures for which the company had not received Food and Drug Administration approval or clearance.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Sun Microsystems Inc, who merged with Oracle in 2010.  They are accused of submitting false claims and causing others to submit false claims to the General Services Administration (GSA) and other federal agencies.

The whistleblowers' share of the government's recovery has not been disclosed.

Originally filed in September 2004 against Accenture LLP, the United States alleged that Sun knowingly paid kickbacks to systems integrator companies in return for recommendations that federal agencies purchase Sun’s products. Sun executed agreements with consulting companies that provided for the payment of fees each time the companies influenced a government agency to purchase a Sun product. These kickback allegations are part of a larger, ongoing investigation of government technology vendors that has resulted in settlements to date with six other companies.

The settlement also resolves claims under the FCA that Sun’s 1997 and 1999 GSA Schedule contracts were defectively priced because Sun provided incomplete and inaccurate information to GSA contracting officers during contract negotiations, as well as claims that the incomplete and inaccurate information resulted in defective pricing of Sun’s contract with the U.S. Postal Service and GSA Schedule contracts held by two resellers of Sun products. At the time Sun entered into its contracts with GSA to sell information technology products and services to federal agencies, applicable regulations and contract provisions required Sun to fully and accurately disclose to GSA how it conducted business in the commercial marketplace so that GSA could use that information to negotiate a fair price for government customers using the GSA contracts to purchase Sun products and services. The defective pricing information that Sun disclosed to GSA was subsequently relied on by the Postal Service in negotiating a contract with Sun, as well as by GSA in negotiating contracts with two resellers of Sun products.