Supreme Court weighs in on “implied certification”

The Supreme Court unanimously endorsed the controversial theory that “implied certification” creates liability under the False Claims Act, but set limits on its application, in its decision on Universal Health Services, Inc. v. Escobar et al.

According to the theory, when a contractor submits an invoice to the government, the vendor implies it has met all regulatory, statutory and contractual requirements. If there are violations in any of those areas, then it could be a violation of the FCA.

However, the court set limits of applying the theory, based on the “materiality” of the violations. In other words, if the government considers the violations as technicalities that did not affect performance of the contract, then there would be no FCA liability.

$25B IT contract awards

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced 54 small businesses and 27 large businesses as winners of the $25 billion Strategic Partners Acquisition Readiness Contract (SPARC).

More information: https://goo.gl/U7fgX4

US contracts down 1.5%

Total federal contract spending fell by 1.5% in fiscal 2015, to $440.8 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg Government. The top 200 contractors received 62% of the total.

More information: Get the report here: http://about.bgov.com/bgov200/

Vendors to submit videos

The Homeland Security Department is giving agile services contractors the option of submitting videos as part of their response to a recent Sources Sought notice.

In a notice on FBO.gov, vendors were invited to submit “low-cost” five-minute videos describing agile projects they had led. DHS said it would give feedback on the videos.

“The government’s feedback will be based on the degree to which the Offeror’s video content includes best practices related to the draft scope document requirements,” the notice stated. The notice added that quality of videos will not be a factor in the feedback.

More information: Sources Sought https://goo.gl/b61lJB

Agencies must compare prices if they avoid FSSI

False Claims fines may double

Research $ flat, but SBIR, STTR dollars rising

Q&A on the Supreme Court Kingdomware ruling

Column: Business Development and Capture Management – Skills & Expertise

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