COMPANY ALLEGEDLY SKIRTED REQUIREMENTS OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACT
In mid-December, a company by the name of Insect Shield LLC was charged with falsifying test results which related to the application of an insect-repellant to Army uniforms. Apparently, the company failed to perform in accordance with its contractual requirements, which included ensuring that the levels of the chemical fell within the specified limits.
A former employee brought the case under the “whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act,” which permits the United States to intervene (as it did here), and that individual will receive a share of any recovery. [The lawsuit -- filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina -- is captioned United States ex rel. Downs v. Insect Shield, LLC et al., No. 1:19-CV-1026.]
In a written statement, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, noted that, “Government contractors and subcontractors must provide the services for which they were paid, including by performing required testing activities …. The Justice Department will pursue those who seek to defraud the American taxpayers by misrepresenting their compliance with contractual commitments.”
That had to have bugged them.
The claims in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
# # #