TGC 47-17-Feature Comment.pmd

This material reprinted from THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR appears here with the permission of the publisher,Thomson/West. Further use without the permission of West is prohibited.THE GOVERNMENT®CONTRACTORInformation and Analysis on Legal Aspects of ProcurementVol. 47, No. 17 April 27, 2005 sequently, the alert concluded, SAIC estimated (andultimately achieved) higher profit margins than pro-posed to the Air Force. The alert asserted that by fail-Focusing to disclose the QRA and resulting variance hours,“SAIC has violated the Truth in Negotiations Act, 10U.S.C. § 2306a, and the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C.¶ 192§ 3729, et seq.” Moreover, the alert stated, “SAIC hastold the Department of Justice that it intends to con-FEATURE COMMENT: Defining Cost Ortinue using Quantitative Risk Analysis and variancePricing Datahours without disclosing those elements to the AirThe Air Force recently announced its view of the Force.” The alert encouraged recipients to “dissemi-definition of cost or pricing data in two highly nate this bulletin as widely as possible to contractingunusual, and widely publicized, notices that grew officers, contract negotiators and contract officesout of a qui tam case filed in the Western Dis- throughout the Air Force.” In fact, the alert was dis-trict of Texas, U.S. ex rel. Woodlee v. Science Ap- tributed throughout the Department of Defense andplications Int’l Corp. This FEATURE COMMENT ana- to some civilian agencies, as well as to prime ...