by Ben Vernia | July 29th, 2010
The Department of Justice announced on July 29 that it was intervening in a qui tam suit in the Eastern District of Virginia against Oracle Corp. and Oracle America, Inc., alleging the company defrauded the government through GSA contracts. According to DOJ’s press release:
The government alleges that Oracle defrauded the United States on a General Services Administration (GSA) software contract that was in effect from 1998 to 2006 and involved hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
Under the contract, GSA used Oracle’s disclosures about its commercial sales practices to negotiate the minimum discounts for government agencies who bought Oracle software. The contract required Oracle to update GSA when commercial discounts improved and extend the same improved discounts to government customers. The suit contends that Oracle misrepresented its true commercial sales practices, ultimately leading to government customers receiving deals far inferior to those Oracle gave commercial customers.
The suit was brought the company’s Senior Director of Contract Services.
