The Department of Justice announced that it intervened and reached a settlement in the Vector Planning Qui Tam Whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act against Vector Planning and Services Inc. (VPSI) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Vector Planning and Services Inc. (VPSI), an information technology, systems engineering, program management and consulting firm headquartered in Chantilly, Va.  VPSI’s West Coast center of operations is in San Diego, Calif.

According to the alleged Vector Planning Qui Tam Whistleblower lawsuit and subsequent settlement:

1. The allegations were originally brought by a whistleblower in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.
2. VPSI has a number of contracts with the Navy and its contractors to provide information technology, systems engineering and management consulting services
3. Under these contracts, VPSI is entitled to bill the government for its indirect costs, which are costs such as overhead that cannot be allocated directly to a particular contract
4. The government alleged that, from 2005 to 2009, VPSI inflated its indirect cost billings to the government by improperly including direct costs, for which it had already been paid, in indirect cost accounts that were then allocated across its government contracts and billed again
5. The government further alleged that VPSI submitted claims for other costs that were never incurred.
6. VPSI has agreed to pay the government $6.5 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that the company inflated claims for payment under several Navy contracts
7. The case is captioned United States ex rel. Hai Ba Trung v. Vector Planning and Services Inc., et al., 3:12-cv-02353-LAB-BGS (S.D. Calif.)
8. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability
9. The whistleblower in this case will receive $1.28 million

The Vector Planning qui tam whistleblower lawsuit was filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue on behalf of the government when they believe that defendants submitted false claims for government funds. The private party is entitled to receive a share of any funds recovered through the lawsuit.

The False Claims Act also permits the government to investigate the allegations made in the relator’s complaint and to decide whether to intervene in the lawsuit, and to recover three times its damages plus civil penalties.

For more information on Qui Tam Whistleblower lawsuits, click here.

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