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Government Contracts
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April 26, 2013
Corinthian Colleges Workers Ask 9th Circ. To Salvage FCA Suit
Two former Corinthian Colleges Inc. employees on Thursday asked the Ninth Circuit to revive their whistleblower suit alleging the for-profit college and Ernst & Young LLP defrauded the federal government out of billions in education funds.
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April 26, 2013
Novartis Faces Another DOJ Suit Over Alleged Kickbacks
The U.S. Department of Justice hit Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. on Friday with allegations in New York federal court that the company defrauded federal health care programs by paying kickbacks to doctors, days after the DOJ sued Novartis over another alleged kickback scheme involving pharmacies.
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April 26, 2013
White House Names FTC's Shelanski To Lead Oversight Body
The White House on Thursday nominated Federal Trade Commission official and former Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP attorney Howard Shelanski to head the government oversight body that reviews all agency draft regulations before they are published.
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April 26, 2013
DC Metro Backs Out Of Troubled $112M Transit Hub
In the wake of Maryland officials' discovery of serious flaws in the construction of a $112 million transit center linking lines to Washington, D.C., the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has refused to operate the facility as originally planned, the authority confirmed to Law360 on Friday.
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April 25, 2013
Foley Adds Former K&L Health Care Pro To Boston Team
Foley & Lardner LLP has snagged a seasoned health care regulatory attorney from K&L Gates LLP as of counsel on its health care team in Boston, the firm announced Thursday.
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April 25, 2013
Fla. City Sues Contractors Over Shoddy Construction Work
The city of Jacksonville, Fla. has launched a suit against contractors it hired to build the city’s main downtown library and parking garage, saying that after the project was complete, it discovered numerous defects stemming from shoddy construction work.
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April 25, 2013
Ex-State Dept. Worker, Hubby Charged In $60M Contract Scam
A Virginia federal grand jury Thursday indicted a former U.S. Department of State contract specialist and her husband on charges alleging the couple ran a secret scheme to steer more than $60 million in government contracts to a company they controlled.
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April 25, 2013
Military Counselors Win Class Cert. In Wage Dispute
A California federal judge on Thursday conditionally certified a class of about 5,000 counselors working at U.S. military bases who claim military contractor Managed Health Network Inc. misclassified them in order to avoid paying overtime wages, ruling the plaintiffs were in a substantially similar position when the alleged harm occurred.
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April 25, 2013
Overseas Shipholding's $94M Military Contract Approved
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday said Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. can go forward with its $94 million U.S. government contract to make ships and commercial transportation resources available during times of war or national emergency.
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April 25, 2013
DOD Looks To Trim Fat With New Contractor Review
The U.S. Department of Defense said Wednesday it was reviewing its acquisition policies, including how it negotiates profits, in an effort to achieve greater efficiency and productivity in the contracting process.
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April 25, 2013
Democrats To Push Pa. False Claims Act
Two Pennsylvania Democratic representatives intend to introduce legislation creating a False Claims Act aimed at countering waste and fraud in state government, according to a co-sponsorship memo released Wednesday.
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April 25, 2013
Fla. House Passes Public-Private Partnerships Bill
The Florida House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would set up statewide guidelines for local governments who want to enter into public-private partnerships, which are increasingly used to fund and build a range of infrastructure and public facilities.
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April 24, 2013
US Hits Lance Armstrong With Long-Awaited FCA Suit
The United States filed a False Claims Act complaint Wednesday against former cycling champion Lance Armstrong, making good on the government's February announcement that it would intervene in the whistleblower suit brought in 2010 by Armstrong's former teammate, Floyd Landis.
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April 24, 2013
Reid Bill Would Cap War Funding To Replace Sequester
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., unveiled a new bill Wednesday that would replace the budget cuts known as sequestration with savings from the troop drawdown in Afghanistan, hoping to ease growing concerns about flight delays caused by cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration.
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April 24, 2013
Trump’s $200M Old Post Office Project Gets Early Approval
A federal commission gave an important nod last week to the Trump Organization's $200 million plans to turn Washington, D.C.'s Old Post Office building into a luxury hotel, along with a request that the Donald Trump-led company tweak the project's public spaces.
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April 24, 2013
FedEx Wins $10.5B Contract For US Postal Service Airmail
The U.S. Postal Service awarded Federal Express Corporation a seven-year, $10.5 billion contract Tuesday, allowing FedEx to continue the transportation of domestic mail products by air, while incorporating new service performance requirements and improved contract terms and conditions.
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April 24, 2013
Omnicare Faces Probe Over Possible FCA Offenses, Kickbacks
Omnicare Inc. on Wednesday said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the pharmaceutical giant has violated the False Claims Act or federal anti-kickback law in connection with the company’s consumer collections practices.
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April 24, 2013
Rep.'s Aide Cops Plea In Fraud Plot With Traffic Court Judge
The administrative aide to a Pennsylvania state representative Wednesday pled guilty to funneling tens of thousands of state funds earmarked for community organizations to friends and associates, in a scheme that also prompted the indictment of a Traffic Court judge.
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April 24, 2013
CMS Proposes $10M Incentive For Medicare Fraud Tips
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday issued a proposed rule upping the maximum reward for Medicare fraud tips from $1,000 to nearly $10 million, a move the agency said was aimed at increasing the number of tips it receives.
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April 24, 2013
Port Authority Advances $2.8B NJ-NY Bridge Projects
With a green light from state officials, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey on Wednesday moved forward with billions in construction projects that will improve three agency-controlled bridges between the two states, including the first new bridge for the Port Authority in more than 80 years.
Expert Analysis
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Pros And Cons Of Proposed Medicare Smart Cards
Recently, in a hearing held by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health, several witnesses addressed using smart cards as a method of health care fraud prevention. It is hoped that such smart cards will prevent bogus providers from successfully stealing funds from the Medicare program, but some individuals are skeptical about the cards' effectiveness, says Frederick Robinson of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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Takeaways From HHS Report On CMS E-Records Program
The findings of the report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ oversight of the electronic health record incentive program, in conjunction with the recent warning letter sent by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder, were intended to remind providers that they must be vigilant in policing their own billing practices, including their eligibility for EHR incentive payments, say attorneys with Perkins Coie LLP.
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Act Quickly To Preserve Bid Protest Rights
The Federal Circuit’s decision in Comint Systems Corp. v. U.S. sends a strong message that a challenge to a clear solicitation error or ambiguity must be asserted prior to contract award and failure to do so waives any right to assert such a challenge in a post-award protest, say David Metzger and Lauren Schlanger of Arnold & Porter LLP.
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Time To Pay, Or Not Pay, The Piper: Fiscal Cliff Part 2
In our first article addressing the Budget Control Act of 2011, we noted that the impending fiscal cliff would cause sufficient pressure on employers, but the financial consequences of "going over the cliff" need not be so dire — there are options short of layoffs, including temporary plant shutdowns, furloughs and reduced schedules, say attorneys with Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
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Expect Increased Whistleblower Cases In 2013
Of the record-high $5 billion the U.S. Department of Justice recovered in False Claims Act settlements and judgments this year, $3.3 billion came from a record 647 whistleblower suits brought by private citizens. The lesson to be drawn from this is that companies subject to fraud claims actions by the federal government should consider every one of their employees as a potential agent of the U.S. government, say attorneys with Venable LLP.
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Sequestration And The WARN Act: Fiscal Cliff Part 1
Since the presidential elections, the markets have been frothy, reflecting most immediately the possibility of automatic tax increases at the end of December and federal spending cuts early next year. If the Budget Control Act's federal spending cuts take effect, a number of government contractors, subcontractors and other employers will need to consider plant closings and layoffs, says Condon McGlothlen of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
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Fed. Circ.'s Opportunity To Clarify 'Duty To Cooperate'
In September, the Federal Circuit issued Scott Timber Co. v. U.S., and on Nov. 21, Scott Timber Co. filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. The case is being watched closely by the government contracting community because of its potential devastating effect on the longstanding government contracting principle, the duty to cooperate. However, one could argue that the case may actually be closer to a friend than a foe, say attorneys with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.
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Recent Surveys Highlight Anti-Corruption Trends
Several firms recently released the results of surveys of corporate executives regarding their companies' anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance programs. These surveys provide valuable insight into attitudes regarding anti-bribery and anti-corruption risks and compliance from the perspective of those who have ultimate responsibility for dealing with these challenges, say attorneys with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
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Cliff Notes: The Long, Slow Trudge Toward Sequestration
The year 2012 seems poised to conclude much the same way it began — with the hard budgetary decisions not yet made and the consequences of these decisions still looming. The key difference, however, is that those consequences are now on our doorstep. Government contractors should be prepared as the countdown to sequestration approaches zero, say attorneys with Crowell & Moring LLP.
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Surviving Motions To Dismiss Under Section 1500
The statute 28 U.S.C. § 1500 precludes jurisdiction in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims if the plaintiff’s lawsuit is based on substantially the same operative facts as a lawsuit the plaintiff has pending elsewhere. A perfect example of the statute’s harsh effect played out last month in Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, says Matthew Turetzky of Dickstein Shapiro LLP.