FEBRUARY 13, 2024. Virginia-based QuarterLine Consulting Services, LLC, and its parent company, Planned Systems International, Inc. (PSI), have agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle claims that QuarterLine falsely represented itself as a women-owned small business (WOSB) in order to obtain a task order from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) that was created specifically for WOSBs to provide physicians to Air Force military treatment facilities.
In July 2017, when QuarterLine was an eligible WOSB, the DHA awarded the contractor an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ), multiple-award contract. This program encouraged small businesses to compete to provide medical staffing and ancillary services to supplement the medical staff already at military treatment facilities around the country. Federal Agencies, such as the DHA, were allowed to set aside additional task orders for participants in the Small Business Administration’s WOSB Federal Contract program to meet small business contracting goals.
However, in 2018, PSI acquired QuarterLine, causing QuarterLine to lose its status as a WOSB. They were then required to update their certifications regarding their size in the General Services Administration’s System for Award Management (SAM) but failed to do so.
In January 2019, a month after the acquisition, QuarterLine responded to an Air Force request. The task order proposal, submitted through the DHA IDIQ, asked for physician anesthesiologists to provide additional support to staff at Joint Base San Antonio’s military treatment facility. This task order was specifically set aside for WOSBs. QuarterLine submitted a proposal for the task order, falsely representing itself as a WOSB and that the GSA’s SAM certifications were current and accurate. Furthermore, they allegedly submitted false representations about its size after being asked by the task order’s contracting official. The Air Force awarded the order to QuarterLine based on QuarterLine’s inaccurate proposal.
Regarding the case, the Special Agent in Charge, General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General said, “Government contractors are expected to be honest in their dealings with the government.”
The relator in this case is a company, the Arora Group, a healthcare services and recruiting firm that filed a whistleblower complaint under the False Claims Act. For its efforts in the case, the Arora Group will receive a portion of the settlement.
If you would like to report government contracting fraud, you can contact attorneys at Tycko & Zavareei LLP. Eva Gunasekera and Renée Brooker are former officials of the United States Department of Justice and prosecuted whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act. Renée served as Assistant Director at the United States Department of Justice, the office that supervises False Claims Act cases in all 94 United States District Courts. Eva was the Senior Counsel for Health Care Fraud. Eva and Renée now represent whistleblowers. For a free consultation, you can contact Renée at [email protected] (tel.: 202-417-3664) or contact Eva Gunasekera at [email protected]. You can also go to Tycko & Zavareei LLP’s website for whistleblowers to learn more at https://www.fraudfighters.net.