Charging forward and other news
Michael Riddle once served as a senior employment manager for Dyncorp International, Incorporated (“Dyncorp”). He alleges that Dyncorp contracted to create a database for the United States government, but took no meaningful steps toward fulfilling its obligations. He further alleges that when he protested Dyncorp’s inaction on the database project, he was marginalized at work and eventually terminated, on September 21, 2009.
The judgment of the district court is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings. ~ January 5, 2012 – RIDDLE v. DYNCORP INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED (Case No. 11-10155)
Defense firm cuts 200 jobs locally
Thomas Gnau - (Dayton Daily News) – January 7, 2012 — Computer Sciences Corp. said Friday it will remove more than 200 employees and contractors from their jobs with a government computer modernization project.
Heather Williams, a spokeswoman for Falls Church, Va.-based CSC, said she could not say how many of those people will be reassigned or laid off.
“I think that’s possible for anybody,” Williams said.
In a statement, CSC said the cuts were part of “a series of associated incremental staff reductions.” A “reassignment services” team will help affected employees, the statement said. The statement did not address how many employees will be affected.
CSC has more than 200 Beavercreek employees, Williams said. She could not say how the “roll-offs” — her term for the job cuts — will affect local employment. The company has an office at 3560 Pentagon Park Blvd.
In September, the company said it would remove about 165 people from their jobs after the Air Force criticized CSC’s performance and stopped funding for a phase of the Expeditionary Combat Support System project. The jobs cuts were to take place in late September, but Williams said Friday she did not know how many of those employees were ultimately laid off. (Click HERE for article)
Agility due to submit preliminary motion to US court prior to 24 Jan hearing
John Everington – (dealReporter) – January 6, 2011 – Agility is due to submit a preliminary motion to a US court prior to a hearing on 24 January in response to a lawsuit filed against it by the US government, a person close to the Kuwaiti company told dealReporter.
The person confirmed that the next hearing in the US Justice Department’s case against Agility and its Kuwait-based subsidiary Agility DGS Logistics will occur in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division on 24 January. Both the prosecution and defence will present their views on the case thus far to US District Judge Alan J. Baverman, who will then schedule the timetable going forward, the person said.
The person said that the judge has ordered Agility and Agility DGS Logistics to submit preliminary motions to the court prior to the hearing. He said that such a submission is expected in early to mid-January. “From the preliminary motion we will get a sense of where Agility feels that [the Department of Justice’s] case is weak,” the person said. (Click HERE for article)
TRICARE Providers Not Considered Federal Contractors Under NDAA
On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. Section 715 of the law exempts TRICARE providers from coverage as federal contractors. TRICARE is the federal government’s healthcare program for active duty and retired military members and their families.
Background. In 2010, an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) held that a hospital that subcontracted to provide medical services to TRICARE beneficiaries was a federal subcontractor subject to the affirmative action laws.
In December, 2010, OFCCP issued Directive 293, taking the position that “contractor (or subcontractor) obligations mandated by OFCCP programs cannot be altered, limited, or defeated by the inclusion in the contract of provisions contrary to such obligations.” Contrary to what was widely believed, OFCCP stated its position that certain arrangements with TRICARE constituted government contracts that created OFCCP jurisdiction. The Directive then provided guidance for assessing when healthcare providers and insurers were federal contractors or subcontractors. (Click HERE for article)
2 big changes for defense contractors in 2012 authorization bill
Jolie Lee – (Federal News Radio) – January 5, 2011 – Two provisions in the 2012 Defense Authorization Bill directly impact defense contractors. One applies to a contractor pay cap to all contract employees, and the other puts more responsibility on contractors to stop counterfeit electronic parts.
The bill prohibits contractors from charging more than $690,000 for the salary of any of its employees. That incremental pay cap, had previously only applied to a contractor’s top five executives.
The effect of this provision is contractors will have to “cover a larger percentage of their employee salaries,” said Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president for national security and procurement policy at TechAmerica.
The compensation cap could actually end up costing the government more money. “Companies are now having to look at either absorbing these additional expenses themselves or passing those costs along onto whoever is buying those goods and services,” Hodgkins said.
The counterfeit parts provision adds contractor liability for integrating electronic components, Hodgkins said.
“If there’s anything found to be counterfeit in any supply chain of any electronic device, whether it’s a weapons system, an aircraft, an IT system, a network, all of those electronics are covered under this new provision,” he said. (Click HERE for article)
Defense contractor at Fort Lee sentenced for allowing inmate trysts
Frank Green – (Richmond Times-Dispatch) – RICHMOND, Va. – January 5, 2012 – A Department of Defense contractor was sentenced to four years probation and six months home confinement Thursday for allowing trysts between prostitutes and federal inmates he was supervising at Fort Lee.
Donald E. Grayson, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of assisting escape and was facing eight to 14 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne, however, imposed a lesser sentence as sought by both the government and Grayson’s lawyers.
“I made a mistake, sir. I used bad judgment,” Grayson told Payne shortly before he was sentenced.
Payne imposed a lower sentence citing, among other things Grayson’s service record – he is retired from the Army and has seven good conduct medals.
Grayson was charged in a four-count indictment in July alleging he assisted in escapes and aided and abetted possession of contraband by an inmate. Under the terms of an agreement, he pleaded guilty in September to assisting escape.
According to court documents, Grayson maintained a firing range at Fort Lee where he supervised a team of inmates on a work-release program. The inmates were shuttled daily between the Petersburg Federal Correctional Center and Fort Lee. (Click HERE for article)
Ex-MacDill contractor charged with bringing gun, ammo on base
Howard Altman – (Tampa Tribune) – TAMPA – January 4, 2011 – A former intelligence contractor from Brandon has been charged with bringing a concealed handgun and more than 300 rounds of ammunition onto MacDill Air Force Base in August in violation of defense regulations.
The charge against Scott Harkenreader, 49, was filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Harkenreader described himself as a contractor with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency on his Facebook page and stated he worked there from 2003 until October. His Facebook page stated he had a 20-year Army career before that.
On Aug. 31, Harkenreader declined comment, referring calls to his attorney Paul Sisco. A call to Sisco this morning was not immediately returned.
Despite repeated requests, officials at MacDill have declined comment since August.
If convicted, Harkenreader faces a year in jail, according to Amy Filjones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This is not the first time Harkenreader has been in trouble with the law.
In 2007, he was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and charged with disorderly intoxication and opposing a police officer without violence, according to jail records. Prosecutors dropped the charges after he served more than 30 hours of community time, according to prosecutors. (Click HERE for article)
CACI Bags Another Defense Deal
Zacks Equity Research – January 04, 2012 – CACI International Inc. (CACI) recently announced the securing of a contract from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to provide support for creating a modernized IT system for security clearance purposes.
As the DoD’s largest logistics combat support agency, the DLA offers worldwide logistics, acquisition, and technical support to the military services along with several civilian agencies and foreign countries.
The contract is worth $39 million, and the nature of operation being new to CACI, the contract offers ample scope for ameliorating the company’s Business System Solutions core capability. It has a seven month base period and a nine month overlapping option.
The interminable cycle of securing successful contracts from the US Defense and Army continues as this marks its third major contract received in the last three months. On November 14, 2011, CACI was awarded multiple U.S. Army contracts worth $273 million and on November 10, 2011, it had received four contracts worth $69 million from the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS). (Click HERE for article)
Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Charged with Wire Fraud
(U.S. Attorney’s Office) – January 04, 2012 – Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Franklin Adderley, Chief of Police, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, announced the filing of a criminal information charging defendant David Michael McElligott, 47, of Warner Robins, GA and currently stationed at Robins Air Force Base, GA, with one count of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1343. If convicted, the defendant faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.
The information alleges that McElligott, a Fort Lauderdale police officer since 1991, has been on extended military leave, serving in the U.S. Air Force since 2001. Since September 2003, he allegedly submitted falsified Military Leave and Earnings Statements and military orders to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the City of Fort Lauderdale. According to the information, the defendant submitted the falsified Leave and Earnings Statements to increase the supplemental pay he received from the City of Fort Lauderdale pursuant to the City’s Supplemental Pay Policy. The information further alleges that the defendant submitted the falsified military orders so that he could falsely assert his entitlement to extend his rights under federal law to return to his job as a police officer. According to the Information, McElligott transmitted the falsified documents via facsimile and/or e-mail to an employee in the payroll department of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. (Click HERE for article)
Former Department of Defense Employee Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Submitting False Travel Claims Totaling Nearly $500,000
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – January 3, 2011 – A former civilian employee of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), a component of the Department of Defense, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for making more than $485,000 in false travel claims using the defense travel system, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.
John R. Brock, 52, of Crofton, Md., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins in the District of Columbia. In addition to his prison term, Brock was sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to pay $485,535 in restitution and ordered to forfeit three sail boats and two residential properties. (Click HERE for article)
Obama Extends Program that Reduces Opportunities for Small Business, According to the American Small Business League
(SunHerald) – PETALUMA, Calif. – January 3, 2011 – The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:
President Obama has extended a 21-year-old defense program that allows large defense contractors to withhold subcontracting information from the public, media and Congress.
The program – known as the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP) – was established in 1990 in an attempt to reduce administrative burdens associated with small business subcontracting goals. The program’s three-year reauthorization was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has long maintained that the CSPTP allows large defense contractors to evade the Small Business Act, which requires that 23 percent of all federal contracts (including subcontracts) must be with small businesses. (Click HERE for article)
Fluor Hanford worker agrees to pay $11,000 to federal government
Annette Cary – (Tri-City Herald) – January 1, 2011 – A purchaser for former Hanford contractor Fluor Hanford has agreed to pay the federal government $11,000 after being accused of accepting kickbacks.
Timothy Hendricks is accused by the Department of Justice of accepting gifts from Shane Fast, owner of former subcontractor Fast Pipe and Supply, and also making purchases from the Fast Pipe for use at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The purchases were paid for by the Department of Energy.
Hendricks agreed to the settlement but denies he accepted gifts that were offered to encourage or reward favorable treatment for Fast Pipe.
The Department of Justice stated in the settlement agreement that Fast gave Hendricks a $100 gift card to Outback Steakhouse in November 2005 and that he purchased $10,586 worth of material from Fast Pipe that month.
In February 2006, he accepted tickets to a Seattle Mariners baseball game valued at $408 from Fast and made purchases worth $16,519 that month from Fast Pipe, according to the Department of Justice. (Click HERE for article)
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Virginia-Based BAE Systems Ship Repair Inc.
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – December 28, 2011 – The Justice Department announced today that it reached a settlement with BAE Systems Ship Repair Inc., a leading provider of ship repair services, to settle allegations that its subsidiary, BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards Alabama LLC, engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary and additional documentary requirements on work-authorized non-U.S. citizens when establishing their eligibility to work in the United States.
The department alleges, based on an extensive investigation, that since at least Jan. 1, 2009, BAE Southeast Alabama imposed different and greater requirements in the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification process on lawful permanent residents as compared to U.S. citizen employees by requiring all newly hired lawful permanent residents to present Permanent Resident Cards, commonly known as “green cards,” as a condition of employment. The investigation was initiated after BAE Southeast Alabama suspended a lawful permanent resident even though he had presented valid documents sufficient under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to establish his work authorization on three separate occasions. The INA requires employers to treat all authorized workers in the same manner during the employment eligibility verification process, regardless of their national origin or citizenship status. (Click HERE for article)
Other Related Posts From Ms Sparky
- That bird won’t fly and other news
- Misconduct and other missteps in the news
- Oregon Guard suit against KBR on exposure to hexavalent chromium will move forward
- Hexavalent chromium suit against KBR by Oregon National Guard goes forward in Portland
- Franken amendment moves forward, the “dirty thirty” back pedal
