Target Acquired: DOJ Strikes At Defense Contractors Over Cybersecurity Compliance And Pricing Issues

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) obligates about half a trillion dollars a year to private contractors for everything from high-end weapons and data systems to basic goods and services like fuel, shipping, food, and medical care. That scale brings scrutiny from DOD's contracting officers, auditors, and investigators, as well as from whistleblowers at contractors and subcontractors, who are incentivized by hefty qui tam bounties to identify performance failures (real or perceived). These are issues that often should be handled through negotiations or as contract disputes. Many times, however, these seemingly simple contract claims are relabeled as "fraud" and transformed into high-stakes False Claims Act (FCA) cases.