Employee, DOJ bring false claims suit against SAIC, AES, former feds

SAIC, Applied Enterprise Solutions and two former federal employees are under investigation for violating the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department says the vendors, and former Naval Oceanographic Major Shared Resource Center director and deputy director Stephen Adamec and Robert Knesel submitted or planned to submit false statements during negotiations of a $3.2 billion contract to support the center at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The General Services Administration awarded the contract to SAIC and its team, including AEA, in April 2004.

David Magee, a former employee at the resource center, filed the lawsuit under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

Justice announced today it joined the lawsuit.

Magee claims Adamec and Knesel, then government employees, conspired with SAIC and AES to ensure that the vendors were awarded the contract by sharing non-public, advance procurement information with the SAIC team that was not provided to other potential bidders; sharing information about the solicitation with the SAIC team before providing that information to other bidders; and choosing a type of contract and putting language in the solicitation in order to bias the selection process to favor the SAIC team.

An SAIC spokeswoman says, "SAIC has fully cooperated with the government over the past three years as this matter was reviewed. We have thoroughly examined the government's claims and found the allegations to be without merit.

The government has been reviewing this matter for three years and has failed to identify any information provided to SAIC that was not available to other bidders or that could have provided SAIC with an unfair competitive advantage in the procurement process. SAIC intends to pursue a vigorous defense against these allegations."

An e-mail to AES seeking comment was not immediately returned.

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On the Web: Justice Department-- Press release of False Claims Act lawsuit

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