According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (NGSC) will pay $27.45 million to settle government contract fraud allegations made under the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department states that the company, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., carried out government contract fraud by overstating the number of hours its employees worked on two battlefield communications contracts the company had with the United States Air Force.

Accordingly, NGSC will make a payment of $25.8 million which, combined with earlier payments made, will total $27.45 million.

According to the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Division, Joseph H. Hunt, “Contractors that knowingly inflate their bills to the government will face serious consequences.”

“This settlement demonstrates, once again, that we will not tolerate those who falsely charge the armed forces or any agency of the United States to illegally profit at the expense of the American taxpayer,” he added.

U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman states “Federal contracts are not a license to steal from the U.S. Treasury.” He adds that the “DOJ is firmly committed to vigilantly weeding out abuse and will swiftly pursue all available remedies when egregious fraud occurs.”

A Special Agent in Charge of the Air Force OSI Office of Procurement Fraud, Detachment 6, Jason T. Hein, says that “Air Force OSI’s Office of Procurement Fraud is dedicated to protecting the taxpayer’s interests worldwide while safeguarding the needs of the warfighter. This investigation is a testament to AFOSI’s global reach, and to our partnerships with DCIS and the FBI which allowed us to meticulously unravel this international conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force.”

According to John Brown, Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Office- Federal Bureau of Investigation, “We are committed to ensuring the funds of the American people are used for their intended purposes.” He adds that “This is another example of the incredible partnerships between the FBI and our Department of Defense counterparts. Together, uncovering this immense fraud against the government and returning the funds to the American taxpayer is vitally important to ensuring our military receives the honest services they are due.”

Two battlefield communication contracts were entered into the NGSC with the Air Force: the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node contract and the Dynamic Re-tasking Capability contract.

The settlement will resolve government contract fraud allegations that NGSC submitted false claims for labor hours between July 1, 2010 and Dec.31, 2013. The hours were purportedly billed by Middle Eastern residents who did not, in fact, work the hours the claimed. An additional $4.2 million agreement, however, was also entered into by NGSC with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California pertaining to the government contract fraud allegations.

The DOJ reports that the government contract fraud settlement was a coordinated effort by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of California, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Air Force Materiel Command Law Office Fraud Division.