L-3 Communications To Pay $4.63 Mln To Settle Overcharging Allegations

(RTTNews) - L-3 Communications Corp., Vertex Aerospace LLC and L-3 Communications Integrated Systems LP have agreed to pay $4.63 million to resolve allegations that they inflated labor hours for time spent by independent contractors at the military's Continental U.S. Replacement Centers or CRC in Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Bliss, Texas, preparing to deploy to overseas posts to support U.S. military operations abroad. The CRCs prepare individuals for deployment by providing orientation briefings, training, health screenings, payroll processing and addressing other administrative matters.

L-3 performed rotary aviation maintenance and support services for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait under contracts with the U.S. Air Force. The United States alleges that from 2006 through November 2011, L-3 knowingly overcharged the government for time their independent contractors spent at the CRCs by billing for each individual not based on the actual time that individual spent at the CRC, but based instead on the earliest arrival or latest departure time of any other individual who also processed through the center that same day.

The allegations settled today arose from a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower, Robert A. Martin, a former L-3 independent contractor, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery. Martin will receive $798,675 from the recovery announced today.