A judgment imposing False Claims Act liability on a contractor was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit because invoices submitted in connection with a contract premised on false statements constituted false claims. A federal district court found the contractor liable for 709 FCA violations, which corresponded to the number of invoices the contractor submitted in the last three years of a six-year contract to manufacture military aircraft engines. Earlier contract years were outside the FCA's 10-year statute of limitations. On appeal, the parties did not dispute the contractor's final offer contained three false statements that were material to the government's decision to enter into the contract, but the contractor contended the invoices were not false claims. The contractor noted the invoices contained no false statements and were connected to separate one-year contracts after the original contract was modified through a calls for improvements process.
(The news featured above is a selection from the news covered in the Government Contracts Report Letter, which is published weekly and distributed to subscribers of the Government Contracts Reporter. )