The U.S. General Services Administration is spending money on information technology. Lots of money! As the nation still reels from Russian election meddling and North Korean hacking scandals, Uncle Sam wants to modernize its IT infrastructure. Over the next 10 years, the GSA has invited 81 small businesses to participate in $15 billion of government spending.
The GSA’s Small Business Contract Award is called “Alliant 2 Small Business.” By prequalifying small businesses able to participate, the agency hopes that streamline the contract award process and quickly get individual agencies the services and products they need. As whistleblower lawyers experienced in DBE fraud (“disadvantaged business enterprise”), we expect that some of the 81 businesses will be compromised. The temptation is simply too great.
For whistleblowers who work in the IT industry, that means great whistleblower award opportunities. This is an opportunity to help keep the industry honest, eliminate fraud and earn a large cash award for those efforts.
DBE Small Business Set Asides
The term DBE or Disadvantages Business Enterprise is actually a term used by the U.S. Department of Transportation and several states. Every federal agency and almost every state have programs to make sure that small businesses can compete for lucrative government contracts. Ditto for companies that are owned by people historically considered “socially and economically disadvantaged.”
For the purpose of this post, we are going to use labels interchangeably. Recognize, however, that different agencies may have different labels for their minority business contracts and small business set asides programs. Some agencies call their Woman Owned Business programs WBEs and Minority Owned Business programs MBEs. The VA and Small Business Administration have their own designations and rules too. And some of these rules require the DBE to also be a small business.
To keep this post becoming an alphabet soup of acronyms, we are simply going to use “DBE” to cover all Disadvantaged Business Enterprises and Small Business Program set asides despite individual agency rules.
Why Do We Have Small Business Set Asides?
Americans still hold on dearly to the notion that in our great nation everyone has an equal opportunity to get ahead and become successful. That is why Congress and most state legislatures protect these set aside programs. We want Hispanic owned / women owned / combat wounded disabled veteran / Native American / small business / “fill-in-the-blank” business owners to succeed.
The general rule for DBEs is that the business must be owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged persons. As noted earlier, there are multiple different groups that qualify for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise status.
According to federal law, the term “socially disadvantaged” means:
“individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.”
The Small Business set asides rules look to the size of the business. The Small Business Administration considers both the company’s revenues and number of employees.
Confused? The details matter if you are bidding on a contract and hope to secure a state or federal government contract. For purposes of this post, we assume that the qualifying small and disadvantaged business enterprises know who qualifies and who probably doesn’t.
So where is the fraud and why is this a problem?
Common Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Small Business Set Aside Frauds
Sometimes larger or non minority owned businesses try to get work for which they are not entitled. These frauds can take several different forms:
- Appointing a puppet owner who otherwise qualifies but really has no ownership or control of the business,
- Creating affiliated entities and hiding the affiliations so that no single entity gets too big to lose a small business set aside designation
- “taking over” a legitimate small business / DBE or having that business simply send all the work over to the larger or nonqualifying business.
Let’s talk about some real examples of DBE fraud:
Example One. Company X finds a wounded vet and promises to pay him if he will pretend to be the business owner. In our case we found a multi-million Pennsylvania contracting business that located a vet, gave him business cards calling him the president and paid him to show up in the event of an audit. The only problem was the vet had no experience in construction and didn’t list the business profits on his tax return (because it wasn’t really his business). None of the employees had ever seen this man either. If you asked any of the workers, they would immediately tell you the real owner of the business.
Why did Company X do this? They wanted to compete to get lucrative VA building contracts.
Example Two. Company Y is a legitimate small business contractor. It doesn’t have the specialized equipment or people to bid on a federal interstate highway job, however. Company Z is much larger but is precluded from bidding on a portion of the work as the U.S. Highway Administration has set aside 10% of the work for small businesses.
In our real-life example, Company Z made a deal with Company Y (the legit small business) and bid the highway job in Company Y’s name. They then got magnetic signs and simply put Company Y’s name on their trucks when on the job site. Ask any worker, however, and they would all tell you they worked for Company Z.
Example Three. Jack and Jill (fictitious names for real people) are husband and wife. They have different last names and list different addresses. Together they own a very large construction business but have broken the business into separate businesses on paper. To an outsider, it looks like a qualified small business (owned by Jack) and a woman owned business (owned by Jill).
Federal contracting rules say that because the two are husband and wife, the businesses are affiliated and have to be treated as one. They hid the fact they were married, however, so that both could qualify for contracts for which they were not qualified bidders.
Alliant 2 Small Business and Small Business Set Asides Fraud
So why are we writing a post about the GSA’s Alliant 2 Small Business contract award? Because the government plans on spending $15 billion. $15,000,000,000.00. That is a lot of money and if history repeats itself, some of 81 small businesses on the award list will be compromised.
It’s possible that some of these businesses don’t even belong on the list. In fact, several of the companies are already facing challenges before the Small Business Administration because of their size. Those companies are Atlas Technologies Inc. (North Charleston, SC), Product Data Integration Technologies, Inc. dba Modulant (also North Charleston, SC), SNAP Inc. (Chantilly VA), and The Informatics Applications Group, Inc. (Reston VA).
Who are the companies that are on the approved contracting list? A complete list appears at the end of this post.
Whether or not a company is on the Alliant 2 Small Business list, the federal government and states award tens of billions of dollars worth of contracts to thousands of vendors each year under small business set aside programs and DBE set asides. The entire idea of helping small and disadvantaged businesses becomes meaningless if big businesses can simply circumvent the rules. When that happens, the rich get richer while struggling small business owners get nothing.
Whistleblower Awards and Small Business Set Asides
Insiders with information about fraudulent small business set asides and fraud involving disadvantaged business enterprise / minority owned business / woman owned businesses are eligible for substantial cash whistleblower awards. The federal False Claims Act pays whistleblowers with inside information up to 30% of whatever the government collects from wrongdoers. Million dollar + awards are common.
Several states including California, New York, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Vermont have their own False Claims Act that cover state and local government contracting.
To qualify for an award, you need several things.
First, you must be an original source of information. That means inside information and not something you found online or heard from a friend.
Second, you must generally be the first to report. There are some exceptions but if two people report similar information, only the first to report gets the award. That means don’t delay!
Finally, to qualify you must file a sealed complaint in court.
Don’t let the rules or court filing scare you. We do this every day. Our clients have received over $100 million in awards. We can help you determine if you have a case. Assuming you have a case, we can investigate, file the necessary court paperwork and even prosecute the case if the government declines to get involved.
Awards generally vary between 15% and 30% of whatever the government collects. If the government does not take over the case and we finish the prosecution, the awards are higher.
Because the law has triple damages and huge penalties, the awards can be quite large.
Interested in learning more? Download our 11 Step Guide to Whistleblowing for more information. (We don’t ask for name, email address or any other data.)
Ready to find out if you qualify? We would love to hear from you. We can be reached online, by email (*protected email*) or by phone (414-704-6731) (Brian Mahany’s direct dial). All inquiries are kept confidential and protected by the attorney client privilege.
MahanyLaw – America’s DBE and Small Business Set Asides Whistleblower Lawyers
The Alliant 2 Small Business Contract Award List
Aderas Inc.
11911 Freedom Dr, Suite 580
Reston, VA 20190
Advanced Software Systems, Inc.
22866 Shaw Road
Sterling, VA 20166
Agile Defense, Inc.
11600 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 320
Reston, VA 20191
Alutiiq Business Services, LLC
3909 Arctic Blvd, Suite 500
Anchorage, AK 99503
ASRC Federal Data Network Technologies, LLC
7000 Muirkirk Meadows Drive, Suite 100
Beltsville, MD 20705
*Atlas Technologies, Inc.
5416 A Rivers Ave., Suite 105
North Charleston, SC 29406
aXseum Solutions, LLC
2850 Eisenhower Ave, Suite 210
Alexandria, VA 22314
Barbaricum, LLC
819 7th Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20001
Battle Resource Management, Inc.
5404 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 300
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
BayFirst Solutions LLC
6856 Eastern Ave. NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20012
BlueWater Federal Solutions, Inc. 14420
Albemarle Point Place, Suite 200
Chantilly, VA 20151
Business Integra Technology Solutions, Inc.
6550 Rock Spring Drive, Suite 450
Bethesda, MD 20817
Clearavenue, LLC
7125 Thomas Edison Drive, Suite 102
Columbia, MD 21046
Client/Server Software Solutions, Inc. 2677
Prosperity Avenue, Suite 650
Fairfax, VA 22031
CNI Global Solutions, LLC 2600
John Saxon Blvd Norman, OK 73071
Constellation Software Engineering, Corp.
180 Admiral Cochrane Drive, Suite 230
Annapolis, MD 21401
Credence Management Solutions, LLC
8607 Westwood Center Drive, Suite 200
Vienna, VA 22182
Customer Value Partners, Inc.
3701 Pender Drive, Suite 200
Fairfax, VA 22030
Decypher Technologies, Ltd
200 Concord Plaza Drive, Suite 780
San Antonio, TX 78216
DKW Communications, Inc.
2001 L Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
DSFederal, Inc.
11900 Parklawn Drive, Suite 406
Rockville, MD 20852
EMW, Inc.
13873 Park Center Road, Suite 216
Herndon, VA 20171
Encentric, Inc.
11325 Random Hills Road, Suite 360
Fairfax, VA 22030
Evanhoe & Associates, Inc.
5089 Norman Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45431
Excellus Solutions, LLC
7926 Jones Branch, Suite 505
McLean, VA 22102
Exeter Government Services, LLC
9841 Washingtonian Blvd, Suite 400
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Federated IT, Inc.
1200 G Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
FEDITC, LLC
1700 Rockville Pike, Suite 458
Rockville, MD 20852
Goldbelt Hawk, LLC
603 Pilot House Drive, Suite 400
Newport News, VA 23606
Grove Resource Solutions, Inc.
5235 Westview Drive, Suite 101
Frederick, MD 21703
Halfaker and Associates, LLC
2900 S Quincy Street, Suite 410
Arlington, VA 22206
Halvik Corporation
1600 Spring Hill Road, Suite 240
Vienna VA 22182
Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC
2020 Kraft Drive, Suite 2400
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Highlight Technologies, LLC
3050 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 310
Fairfax, VA 22030
ICS-Nett, Inc.
2677 Prosperity Ave, Suite 400
Fairfax, VA 22031
InCadence Strategic Solutions Corporation
10432 Balls Ford Road, Suite 120
Manassas, VA 20109
Incentive Technology Group, LLC
2121 Crystal Drive, Suite 720
Arlington, VA 22202
Innovative Management Concepts, Inc.
21400 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 210 Dulles,
Loudoun County, VA 20166
InquisIT, LLC
14900 Bogle Drive, Suite 203
Chantilly, VA 20151
Inserso Corporation
8229 Boone Boulevard, Suite 800
Vienna, VA 22182
Interimage, Inc.
4301 N Fairfax Drive, Suite 205
Arlington, VA 22203
Koniag Services, Inc.
4100 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 303
Chantilly, VA 20151
Link Solutions, Inc.
8251 Greensboro Drive, 8th Floor
McLean, VA 22102
LinkTec, LLC
8405 Greensboro Drive, Suite 1020
Mc Lean, VA 22102
LinTech Global, Inc.
34119 W 12 Mile Road, Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
MetroStar Systems, Inc.
1856 Old Reston Ave, Suite 100
Reston, VA 20190
Network Security Systems
Network Security Systems Plus, Inc.
5205 Leesburg Pike, Suite 505 Falls
Church, VA 22041
New Generation Solution, LLC
41833 Pleasant Forest Ct Ashburn,
VA 20148
NikSoft Systems Corporation
1984 Isaac Newton Square West, Suite 306A
Reston, VA 20190
Paragon Technology Group, Inc.
723 Seibert Road, Suite 1
Scott Air Force Base, IL, 62225
Procentrix, Inc.
2201 Cooperative Way, Suite 550
Herndon, VA 20171
*Product Data Integration Technologies, Inc. dba Modulant
4130 Faber Place Drive, Suite 204
North Charleston, SC 29405
Pro-Sphere Tek, Inc.
1101 King Street, Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314
Qbase, LLC
3725 Pentagon Blvd, Suite 120
Beavercreek, OH 45431
Sentar, Inc.
315 Wynn Drive, Suite 1
Huntsville, AL 35805
Sev1Tech, Inc.
12700 Black Forest Lane, Suite 306
Woodbridge, VA 22192
*SNAP, Inc.
4080 Lafayette Center Dr., Suite 340
Chantilly, VA 20151
Soft Tech Consulting, Inc.
4229 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 1700
Chantilly, VA 20151
Solutions By Design II, LLC
1953 Gallows Road, Suite 870
Vienna, VA 22182
Solutions Development Corporation
12220 Charles Street; P.O. Box 2902
La Plata, MD 20646
Spry Methods, Inc.
1420 Spring Hill Road, Suite 300
McLean, VA 22102
Strategic Operational Solutions, Inc.
8391 Old Courthouse Road, Suite 300
Vienna, VA 22182
Sumaria Systems, Inc.
99 Rosewood Drive, Suite 140
Danvers, MA 01923
Suntiva, LLC
7600 Leesburg Pike, Suite 440E
Falls Church, VA 22043
Superior Government Solutions, LLC
431 Park Ave, Suite 201
Falls Church, VA 22046
Systems Plus, Inc.
One Research Court, Suite 360
Rockville, MD 20850
Tantus Technologies, Inc.
1735 North Lynn Street, Suite 650
Arlington, VA 22209
Technology Solutions Provider, Inc.
20 Pidgeon Hill Drive, Suite 106
Sterling, VA 20165
Teracore, Inc.
3300 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 226
Norcross, GA 30092
*The Informatics Applications Group, Inc.
11911 Freedom Dr., Suite 1180
Reston, VA 20190
The net.America Corporation 1401
Mercantile Lane, Suite 400
Largo, MD 20774
Time Solutions, LLC
609 Independence Parkway, Suite 210
Chesapeake, VA 23320
Tuva, LLC
13873 Park Center Road, Suite 400N
Herndon, VA 20171
Usmax Corporation
8280 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Suite 610
Fairfax, VA 22031
Valador, Inc.
560 Herndon Pkwy, Suite 300
Herndon, VA 20170
VariQ Corporation
2055 L Street NW, Suite 650
Washington, DC 20036
Vector Planning & Services, Inc. 591
Camino de la Reina, Suite 300 San
Diego, CA 92108
Vista Defense Technologies, LLC
1479 Gillespie Street Bldg 131, Suite 308
Rock Island, IL 61201
VMD Systems Integrators, Inc.
11440 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 400
Reston, VA 20191
VSolvit, LLC
4171 Market Street, Suite 2
Ventura, CA 93003
X-EETO Inc.
2301 NW 87th Avenue, Suite 503
Miami, FL 33172
The post Small Business Set Asides & Minority Businesses & GSA’s Alliant 2 appeared first on Mahany Law.