On August 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule that seeks to amend and update the Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) to align health IT procurement requirements....more
On March 22, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protest challenging an agency decision finding the protester ineligible for award under both the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $2.68 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 23, 2023. Notably, DOJ reports that...more
In 2019, the Department of Justice created the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force), a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government...more
On December 20, 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied an unsuccessful bidder’s protest, arguing, among other things, that the procurement was tainted by an appearance of impropriety after the agency...more
Hosted by American Conference Institute, the 11th Annual Advanced Forum on False Claims and Qui Tam Enforcement returns for another exciting year for lively discussions on FCA enforcement including the ramifications of two...more
Below are noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) decisions from the third quarter of 2023. The main issues in the cases are: Materiality. The Fourth Circuit held that a pharmacist’s efforts to falsify patient eligibility...more
You are reading the March 2023 edition of the Bass, Berry & Sims Enforcement Roundup, where we bring notable enforcement actions, policy changes, interesting news articles, and a bit of our insight to your inbox. March saw...more
In November, the federal government announced the expansion of its Procurement Collusion Strike Force with the addition of four new members — the offices of inspectors general at the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S....more
Continuing its prolific run of indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions, on July 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force) secured a guilty plea from a Texas...more
Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Florida grand jury indicted three men for conspiring to rig bids for customized promotional products to the U.S. Army and charged two of them with conspiring to...more
The Biden-Harris Administration made cybersecurity a top priority when President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 14028 indicating that preventing, detecting, assessing, and remediating cybersecurity incidents in federal...more
In a press release issued on February 1, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that its fiscal year 2021 recoveries on False Claims Act settlements and judgments totaled over $5.6 billion. This number represents the...more
On February 1, 2022, a federal jury found a former engineering firm executive guilty of conspiring to rig bids and defraud the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) of hundreds of public works contracts worth...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $5.6 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgment in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021. This is the second largest annual total...more
On June 7, 2021, as part of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) continuing commitment to prosecuting cases where the government is a victim, a government contractor pleaded guilty to one count of bid-rigging and one count of...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on June 7, 2021, that a North Carolina engineering firm agreed to pay a $7 million fine and $1.5 million in restitution after pleading guilty to engaging in bid rigging and fraud...more
Given the rapid pace and volume of economic aid allocated by Congress to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts, it is no surprise that the federal government has focused heavily on identifying and prosecuting...more
Senior DOJ Official Michael Granston Discusses COVID Relief Enforcement, Granston Memo, and other FCA Issues - Michael Granston, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ Civil Division, sat down this week with Jody...more
Compliance Today (February 2021) - The U.S. Department of Justice announced the addition of 11 new members to the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), created to combat collusion, antitrust crimes, and related...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 29, 2020. Notably, DOJ reports that...more
Larceny, that business enterprise with a knack for (fleeting) success regardless of the state of the economy, was busy last year. As Obi-Wan Kenobe would say it: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...more
In November 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), an interagency partnership aimed at preventing and prosecuting anticompetitive behaviors in...more
Over three years after the filing of the initial sealed complaint, a New York-based construction company and several affiliates - including its bonding company - have agreed to pay a combined $4.47 million to settle a False...more