Stratford, Connecticut — Two Lockheed Martin subsidiaries have agreed to pay the federal government $70 million for overcharging the Navy for aircraft parts, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.
Federal agencies allege that Stratford, Connecticut-based Sikorsky Support Services and Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Derco Aerospace knowingly supplied aircraft parts and materials used to train Navy pilots. He said he had entered into an inappropriate subcontract.
Under the agreement, Sikorsky purchased parts from Derco at a 32 percent markup on top of the costs Derco paid to other suppliers.
Sikorsky billed the Navy for payments to Derco in violation of federal regulations prohibiting such arrangements, which prosecutors said increased government costs.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates that the Department of Justice will ensure that government contractors do not evade the law and engage in self-dealing that can artificially inflate rates at the expense of American taxpayers,” said Brian Boynton, director of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. said. From the statement.
Maryland-based Lockheed Martin said in a statement Friday that it was “pleased with the conclusion of this case through a settlement,” noting that no wrongdoing was found by Sikorsky or Durko Aerospace.
Prosecutors said the settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by a former Derco employee under the whistleblower provisions of the federal False Claims Act. The incident dates back to 2011, several years before Lockheed Martin acquired Sikorsky, the maker of military Black Hawk helicopters, in 2015.
Darrin Jones of the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General said the agreement should serve as a deterrent to those seeking to exploit the Pentagon’s procurement processes.
Greg Gross of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Economic Crimes Field Office added, “Excessive inflation in the cost of parts and materials for aircraft repair and maintenance has impacted Naval aviation training and is costing American taxpayers.” Yes.
