more law chimes in on SAIC, ....how many times must SAIC get scolded and skirt/twist around laws before being told to cease operations.
n United States v. Science Applications International Corporation, SAIC entered into a contract with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) to provide technical assistance and expert analysis. The contract included strict provisions on conflicts of interest, including a requirement that SAIC seek NRC’s prior written approval if it had reason to believe that a proposed arrangement may raise a conflict of interest. SAIC subsequently entered into two contracts that potentially conflicted with its NRC work. SAIC had a computerized compliance system, but it did not capture all of SAIC’s business relationships and did not adequately associate keywords with descriptions of work. The descriptions were also incomplete. SAIC did not disclose the new contracts to the NRC. The NRC eventually learned about SAIC’s other work from a member of the public and terminated SAIC’s contract. The government then sued SAIC under the False Claims Act.
blah...blah...blah then...
Contractors would be wise to use every internal investigation, in particular the raft of internal investigations prompted by the mandatory disclosure requirements imposed by FAR 52.203-13, as an opportunity not only to reverse the monetary consequences of improper conduct and to punish those responsible, but to implement internal process improvements designed to prevent a recurrence of the problem. Improvements will not only demonstrate a lack of recklessness, but they will also catch issues before they become FCA concerns.
