Government Contracts http://www.brownrudnick.com/practice/practice.asp?group=Government%20Contracts Copyright © 2009 Brown Rudnick LLP. All Rights Reserved http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Mon, 6 Jul 2009 09:43:03 -0400 lmurray@brownrudnick.com (Lisa Murray) Mon, 6 Jul 2009 09:42:19 -0400 Sunday Saturday kschultz@brownrudnick.com(Keith Schultz) FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com http://www.brownrudnick.com/rss/brrss.jpg http://www.brownrudnick.com/practice/practice.asp?group=Government%20Contracts Brown Rudnick, LLP 144 31 Sarah Palin celebrated Independence Day by declaring her independence from the governship of Alaska. As governor, her salary is $125,000. In the next year, she will take in how much? $1 million? $2 million? $5 million? More? But according to Palin, it is wrong for lame duck governors to "draw a paycheck" and "kind of milk it." According to reports, she used phrases like a "higher calling" and "it's about country" to describe her abdication from Alaska's throne. As a public official, Palin is governed by ethics rules and Government contract conflict of interest rules. As governor of Alaska, it would be problematic for Palin to collect $60,000 for giving a speech or big bucks for serving on a corporate board. But as a former governor, many of those restrictions go away. What may not go away are rumors that Palin, as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, benefited from the construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex. An attorney for Palin has denied those allegations. See http://www.politico.com/static/PPM124_release_for_7-4-09-1.html Is this a great country or what? Where else can a former third place finisher in the Miss Alaska pageant play a pivotal role in electing the country's first black President. And where else can milking your popularity make you a millionaire overnight and be called a "higher calling"? Our founders would be proud. Happy July 4th. http://www.brownrudnick.com/blog/governmentcontracts/ kweckstein@brownrudnick.com (Kenneth B. Weckstein) 88CAA123-5292-47BC-9A89-449C68287B59 Mon, 6 Jul 2009 09:42:19 -0400 According to an April 8, 2009 Settlement Agreement, Igor Kapuscinski worked for NetApp as a Systems Engineer and in other positions. He sued his former employer in a qui tam action. That allows private individuals to file lawsuits in the name of the USA. The lawsuit alleged that NetApp made false statements and claims to GSA and violated the price reduction terms of two contracts "by failing to extend proper discounts to government customers..." NetApp denied all of these contentions. Nonetheless, as part of the Settlement Agreement, NetApp agreed to pay $128 million to the USA and the USA agreed to pay $19.2 million of that amount to Igor. Now I know what you are thinking. Why would NetApp agree to pay $128 million to the USA after denying all the allegations of wrongful conduct? And the answer is "to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of protracted litigation...." That would have paid for a lot of uncertainty and litigation expenses. I would have been happy to handle the litigation for half that amount. Besides the fact that mothers should tell their children to grow up to be engineers or qui tam relators, what does this settlement tell us? First, there are some very good mechanisms in place to detect alleged fraud. These include the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which may have created more millionaires than AIG. Second, don't be surprised if the Obama Administration publicizes and strengthens the qui tam provisions so that more such lawsuits are encouraged. Third, the Price Reduction clause in GSA FSS contracts is a big trap for the unwary. Putting aside those pesky allegations of false statements and claims, you can get in trouble by giving commercial customers discounts that you do not give to the Federal Government. As to Igor's former job, we don't know whether it still is open. http://www.brownrudnick.com/blog/governmentcontracts/ kweckstein@brownrudnick.com (Kenneth B. Weckstein) D0C664F3-3C45-4483-B6B6-FA5F9CD3F9B7 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:20:16 -0400