GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (7/17–21)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers Booz Allen and another False Claims Act settlement, Court's injunction on SBA program, DOD's mining agreement, and DOD's recent LEGO contract.

False Claims Act

Yahoo! – Booz Allen to pay $377.4 million to settle US charges over past billing practices

• "U.S.-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Holding agreed to pay the United States $377.4 million to resolve allegations of violating federal law by improperly billing commercial and international costs to its government contracts, the Justice Department said. Under government contracting rules, there must be a nexus between the costs charged to a government contract and the objective of the contract, the Justice Department said on Friday."

Justice.gov – Federal Contractor Agrees to Pay $7 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

• "Foresee Results, Inc. and Verint Americas, Inc. (collectively, Foresee) have agreed to pay $7,000,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by falsely representing to the United States that they used the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to measure customer satisfaction."

SBA

FedScoop – Federal judge enjoins use of presumed racial disadvantage in SBA contracting program

• "A federal judge in Tennessee this week struck down the Small Business Administration’s use of presumed racial and ethnic disadvantage as a qualification for a keystone program intended to broaden the government contracting landscape, throwing it into uncertainty."

GovConJudicata – ALERT: Court Enjoins SBA from Using Rebuttable Presumption in 8(a) Program

• "On July 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee held in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. that the "rebuttable presumption" under SBA's 8(a) BD Program violated a plaintiff's the Fifth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. In so doing, the Court ENJOINED the SBA from using the rebuttable presumption for social disadvantage in administering SBA’s 8(a) BD Program."

Defense

Defense.gov – DOD Enters Agreement to Expand Capabilities for Domestic Graphite Mining and Processing for Large-Capacity Batteries

• "The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office, entered an agreement with Graphite One (Alaska) to secure a reliable, sustainable supply of graphite materials within the U.S. to be used in the production of large-capacity batteries."

Benzinga – US Military Is Giving Your Tax Dollars To LEGO... Here's Why

• "LEGO, yes that Lego, just got a $2 million contract from the Department of Defense for its robotics education program, according to the SAM.gov website. The classic, plastic building-brick company, has been implementing robotics into its products and toys for more than a decade."

. . .

#govcon