February 22, 2015
The Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service recently announced the indictment of an Illinois company, its president, and a former employee for unlawfully exporting and importing military articles, including components used in night vision…
February 2, 2015
As reported in this blog back in March of 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) made significant changes to the limitations on subcontracting for small business set-aside contracts. Now, twenty-one months later, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed a new rule to implement those changes. While faithfully implementing the statutory…
February 2, 2015
In connection with a “pilot program” established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA), the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is revising its regulations to expand who may file a whistleblower disclosure with OSC. Under the proposed rule, employees of Federal contractors, subcontractors, and grantees will be able to disclose wrongdoing within the Federal government if they…
January 12, 2015
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2015.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change…
November 18, 2014
Given the FAR 9.103(b) mandate that “no purchase or award shall be made unless the contracting officer makes an affirmative determination of responsibility,” FCi Federal, Inc. (FCi) was surprised when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a $210 million contract to FCi’s competitor, USIS PSD. Why? Because the award came after a flurry of media reports containing allegations of…
November 4, 2014
A 54-year old Virginia executive, Mark Farmer, was indicted in October for allegedly providing things of value to the former director of two Ohio Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers. The alleged quid pro quo was that, in exchange for these items of value, the VA director provided confidential information to Farmer about various VA construction projects. The charges in the…
October 14, 2014
A criminal complaint filed by the United States in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on September 12, 2014, alleges that Alper Calik, a government contractor, knowingly and willfully (i) defrauded the United States Department of Defense (DoD) by claiming that Amphibious Assault Vehicle parts manufactured in Turkey were “domestic end products”, and (ii) exported items…
September 30, 2014
A federal grand jury in Greeneville, Tennessee recently returned an indictment against four individuals for fraud against the United States. If convicted, they each face potential terms of over 50 years. The indictment also seeks forfeitures (that is, the return) of between $5 and $15 million in funds fraudulently obtained by three of the individuals.
Details of the alleged crimes…
July 28, 2014
The recent Federal Circuit opinion in Veridyne Corporation v. United States, No. 2013-5011 (Fed. Cir. July 15, 2014), is a cautionary tale about not trying to game the system to take advantage of a contractor’s expiring 8(a) status.
Veridyne Corporation (“Veridyne”) was a successful federal contractor that participated in the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) 8(a) program. Veridyne had…
June 24, 2014
On June 14, 2014, Richard Melton, the former president of defense contractor Partz Network, was arrested and charged with allegedly stealing $3 million through fraudulent contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Most of the contracts were for replacement parts for military rolling stock – parts required to be manufactured by DoD-recognized qualified manufacturers. Partz…
May 8, 2014
The Department of Justice just announced the indictment of two individuals (father and son) and their two companies for allegedly defrauding the federal government and 200 public schools districts of more than $33 million. The parties are charged with multiple counts of mail fraud and federal program bribery for allegedly misrepresenting the nature and quality of tutoring…
March 31, 2014
In a recent case, a husband and wife were both sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in a conspiracy to steer military contracts. In United States v. Keith Johnson and Angela Johnson, No. 13-CR-00305 (E.D. Va. indictment filed July 16, 2013), the couple was charged in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and actual counts of wire fraud in connection with a Vehicle Maintenance…
February 22, 2015
The Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service recently announced the indictment of an Illinois company, its president, and a former employee for unlawfully exporting and importing military articles, including components used in night vision…
February 2, 2015
As reported in this blog back in March of 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) made significant changes to the limitations on subcontracting for small business set-aside contracts. Now, twenty-one months later, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed a new rule to implement those changes. While faithfully implementing the statutory…
February 2, 2015
In connection with a “pilot program” established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA), the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is revising its regulations to expand who may file a whistleblower disclosure with OSC. Under the proposed rule, employees of Federal contractors, subcontractors, and grantees will be able to disclose wrongdoing within the Federal government if they…
January 12, 2015
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2015.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change…
November 18, 2014
Given the FAR 9.103(b) mandate that “no purchase or award shall be made unless the contracting officer makes an affirmative determination of responsibility,” FCi Federal, Inc. (FCi) was surprised when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a $210 million contract to FCi’s competitor, USIS PSD. Why? Because the award came after a flurry of media reports containing allegations of…
November 4, 2014
A 54-year old Virginia executive, Mark Farmer, was indicted in October for allegedly providing things of value to the former director of two Ohio Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers. The alleged quid pro quo was that, in exchange for these items of value, the VA director provided confidential information to Farmer about various VA construction projects. The charges in the…
October 14, 2014
A criminal complaint filed by the United States in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on September 12, 2014, alleges that Alper Calik, a government contractor, knowingly and willfully (i) defrauded the United States Department of Defense (DoD) by claiming that Amphibious Assault Vehicle parts manufactured in Turkey were “domestic end products”, and (ii) exported items…
September 30, 2014
A federal grand jury in Greeneville, Tennessee recently returned an indictment against four individuals for fraud against the United States. If convicted, they each face potential terms of over 50 years. The indictment also seeks forfeitures (that is, the return) of between $5 and $15 million in funds fraudulently obtained by three of the individuals.
Details of the alleged crimes…
July 28, 2014
The recent Federal Circuit opinion in Veridyne Corporation v. United States, No. 2013-5011 (Fed. Cir. July 15, 2014), is a cautionary tale about not trying to game the system to take advantage of a contractor’s expiring 8(a) status.
Veridyne Corporation (“Veridyne”) was a successful federal contractor that participated in the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) 8(a) program. Veridyne had…
June 24, 2014
On June 14, 2014, Richard Melton, the former president of defense contractor Partz Network, was arrested and charged with allegedly stealing $3 million through fraudulent contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Most of the contracts were for replacement parts for military rolling stock – parts required to be manufactured by DoD-recognized qualified manufacturers. Partz…
May 8, 2014
The Department of Justice just announced the indictment of two individuals (father and son) and their two companies for allegedly defrauding the federal government and 200 public schools districts of more than $33 million. The parties are charged with multiple counts of mail fraud and federal program bribery for allegedly misrepresenting the nature and quality of tutoring…
March 31, 2014
In a recent case, a husband and wife were both sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in a conspiracy to steer military contracts. In United States v. Keith Johnson and Angela Johnson, No. 13-CR-00305 (E.D. Va. indictment filed July 16, 2013), the couple was charged in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and actual counts of wire fraud in connection with a Vehicle Maintenance…
