The U.S. Department of Justice today announced yet another settlement for a military contractor caught inflating or falsifying U.S. military contract claims.
Vector Planning and Services Inc. (VPSI), an IT and consulting firm based in Virginia today agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle violations of the False Claims Act. The company was accused of submitting inflated claims for contracts that it held with the U.S. Navy.
According to the charges, VPSI billed the U.S. Navy for direct costs that had already been paid for under the label of indirect costs. This process inflated the claims for VPSI’s contract and cost the U.S. government millions. The company is also accused of submitting contract claims for costs that never existed.
Like many other recent war profiteers to be caught by the U.S., Vector was outed by a whistleblower who stands to earn $1.28 million of the settlement judgement under provision of the False Claims Act. The case against the company was investigated by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
“The Department of Justice will vigorously protect taxpayer funds from false claims,” said Stuart Delery, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. “Contractors who wish to do business with the military must act with honesty and integrity, or they will be held accountable for their actions.”