Reporting bid rigging fraud

This article shows you how to get a reward for reporting bid rigging fraud against the military, Homeland Security, Medicare or any other federal or state government agency.

It is estimated that 10% of government spending by the military, Homeland Security or another of the 20 federal or many state agencies is lost to fraud. One common fraudulent scheme by government contractors is “bid rigging.” The good news is that you can report bid rigging fraud against the military or Homeland Security and put stop the fraud and obtain a monetary reward. To get a reward, however, you must comply with the whistleblower reward program.

This article provides the basics for how to report bid rigging fraud and how to formally apply for a whistleblower reward for reporting bid rigging.

Tips for reporting bid rigging

First, you cannot get a reward simply by calling a hotline to report bid rigging. It also is not sufficient to inform a government official of the bid rigging fraud. Rather, to get a reward requires that you hire an attorney to file qui tam suit under the False Claims Act. Fortunately, attorneys representing whistleblowers file for rewards for reporting bid rigging work on a contingency (i.e. a percentage of any reward you might receive).

Second, your lawyer must follow the exact process in the reward statute for you to be eligible for a reward for reporting bid rigging. Therefore, it is important that you carefully select an attorney experienced with handling reward applications for bid rigging fraud reward cases.

Third, you need to possess and properly report very specific details of the bid rigging allegations. The government turns away most reward applications, so it is critical that you have first-hand knowledge of the bid rigging or at least specific information to prove bid rigging, and that your attorney present the information in a manner to help convince the government to take your claim.

Examples of bid rigging cases

Bid rigging fraud occurs as the result of government contractors that are competitors engage in collusion or price fixing when bidding upon or competing for a government contract. It is also an illegal conspiracy between competitors that join together or communicate with each other in an attempt to either artificially increase the prices of goods or services to perform a government contract. Other common bid rigging schemes include government contractors agreeing between themselves how to carve up the potential government contract work between the co-conspirators.

The types of bid rigging schemes vary greatly. One common example of bid rigging cases against the military occurred when three government contractors agreed among themselves how to bid on a government contract to enable them to divide the work and increase the price. The defendants in that case agreed to pay $30 million to settle the bid rigging allegations.

Bid rigging is also prevalent in Medicare fraud, and can occur in many different forms. For instance, two health care providers can agree in advance to bill Medicare for services not necessary. Specifically, a hospital can conspire with a laboratory or medical equipment provider to supply Medicare patients with services or supplies that are not medially necessary. This form of bid rigging may also include kickback schemes.

How much reward for reporting bid rigging fraud?

The size of all whistleblower rewards is determined by the size of the case. The reward amount is 15% to 25% of the amount the government recovers back from the company defrauding the government by bid rigging. For instance, in the example of military fraud through bid rigging where the government contractor repaid $30 million, the amount the whistleblower might receive as a reward for reporting bid rigging is between $4.5 million and $7.5 million.

How to report bid rigging fraud

This website and books written by Mr. Hesch guide you through every step of the process of reporting bid rigging fraud against the military, Medicare, Homeland Security or any other government agency and shows you how to report bid rigging fraud.

Mr. Hesch has over 15 years of experience working investigating fraud against the government while working at the Civil Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He is ready to review your potential bid rigging fraud case.

The link below “Do I have a case” shows you how to ask Mr. Hesch to review your bid rigging allegations and how to get a reward for reporting bid rigging fraud.

The link below “Report Fraud” has more information regarding how to get a reward for reporting bid rigging fraud against the government.