Government Allowed to Prosecute Fraud Counterclaim
Taking the offensive against a claim it believed to be knowingly false, the USDOT in this case arising from a roadway project in Eastern Washington filed a counterclaim against the contractor under three federal statutes -- the False Claims Act, the the anti-fraud provisions of the Contract Disputes Act and the Forfeiture of Fraudulent Claims Act.
The gist of the fraud claim is that the contractor overbilled for work, such as billing for testing costs which had already been paid & billing for work which should have been included in the base contract.
The contractor moved to dismiss the counterclaim for lack of evidence to establish either that the claim was false or that the contractor submitted the claim with knowing intent to defraud. The Court of Federal Claims denied the motion, holding the Government had shown enough facts to establish a "reasonable possibility" of success on the fraud counterclaim.