by Ben Vernia | March 31st, 2013
On March 29, the Department of Justice announced that CDW-G, the government contracting arm of the information technology supplier, CDW, has agreed to pay over $5.66 million to settle claims originally brought by a qui tam relator. According to DOJ’s press release:
CDW-Government LLC (CDW-G) has agreed to pay $5.66 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims in connection with a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contract, the Justice Department announced today. CDW-G is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Illinois-based CDW Corporation and a reseller of information technology, equipment, services, office supplies and related products. The settlement resolves allegations that, during the period 1999 to 2011, CDW-G improperly charged government purchasers for shipping, sold products to the United States that were manufactured in China and other countries that are prohibited by the Trade Agreements Act, and underreported sales in order to avoid paying GSA its “Industrial Funding Fee,” a fee based on total contract sales that is designed to cover GSA’s costs of contract administration.
The government announced that the whistleblower will receive $1,336,098 of the settlement (a 23.5% relator’s share).
