Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has agreed to pay the U.S. Air Force $2.5 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the government by padding the cost estimates to perform environmental clean-up work at the former Kelly Air Force Base. The Air Force had tapped SAIC in the late 1990s to clean up the base before the property was handed over to the Greater Kelly Development Authority for redevelopment. Kelly closed in 2001.
A 2002 whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Michael Dwight Woodlee, a former SAIC project manager, prompted an extensive investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. That in turn led the Justice Department to join Woodlee’s civil lawsuit in 2004. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that SAIC knowingly failed to disclose information about its costs during price negotiations as required under the federal Truth in Negotiations Act.
SAIC denies all allegations of wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Under the False Claims Act, Woodlee will receive $500,000 as part of his personal share of the settlement. San Antonio Business Journal: Defense contractor SAIC to pay $2.5 million to settle fraud charges