by Ben Vernia | June 27th, 2012
On June 26, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with Ward Diesel Filter Systems of a False Claims Act suit initiated by a qui tam relator, or whistleblower. According to DOJ’s press release:
Ward Diesel Filter Systems Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $628,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims to federal agencies under a contract to provide diesel exhaust filtering systems for fire engines through the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule program, the Justice Department announced today.
Ward Diesel, which is headquartered in Elmira, N.Y., manufactures filtering systems for diesel engines on fire trucks. The company had provided the systems to the Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, Department of Interior, as well as the Air Force, Marine Corps and Department of Energy.
Ward Diesel’s contract required it to truthfully provide its commercial pricing information to GSA during the contracting process. The contract required Ward Diesel to identify a group of most-favored customers, and to provide more favorable prices to GSA than it offered to those most-favored customers. In addition, Ward Diesel’s contract with GSA required Ward Diesel to notify GSA of any additional discounts to the most-favored customers during the life of the contract. The United States alleged that Ward Diesel failed to fulfill these obligations, thereby routinely overcharging government agencies that purchased diesel filter systems from Ward Diesel though its GSA contract.
The government announced that the qui tam relator will receive $94,200 of the settlement (a 15% share).
