by Andrew Murray | May 19th, 2019
On May 13, 2019, the Department of Justice announced that Informatica LLC f/k/a Informatica Corporation, has agreed to pay $21.57 million to resolve allegations related to Government overcharging. The software development company, headquartered in California, was accused of providing misleading information concerning its commercial sales practices. According to DOJ’s Press Release:
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Informatica allegedly knowingly provided false information concerning its commercial discounting practices for its products and services to resellers, who then used that false information in negotiations with GSA for government-wide contracts called “Multiple Award Schedule contracts.” Under these contracts, GSA uses commercial pricing disclosures to negotiate the maximum prices that a vendor can charge government agencies. Here, Informatica’s allegedly false disclosures caused GSA to agree to less favorable pricing, and, ultimately, government purchasers to be overcharged. The settlement also resolves allegations that Informatica caused sales to the United States in violation of the Trade Agreement’s Act, which restricts the country of origin for goods purchased by the government.
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The allegations resolved by this settlement arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act. The act permits private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The whistleblower, who is a former employee of Informatica, will receive $4,314,000.
This case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, with assistance from GSA’s Office of Inspector General. The case is captioned United States ex rel. Sullivan v. Informatica Corp., Case No. 15-0716 (D.D.C.).
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