On January 12, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a government contractor, where a relator had asserted that the contractor had violated material contractual requirements.

In United States ex rel. Kelly v. SERCO, Inc., defendant SERCO provided project management, engineering design and installation support services for a range of government projects to the US Department of Defense, Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires that government contracts of this nature contain a clause requiring the contractor to implement a cost and progress tracking tool called an “earned value management system” (EVMS), which is “a project management tool that effectively integrates the project scope of work with cost, schedule and performance elements for optimum project planning and control,” 48 C.F.R. § 2.101, and that this EVMS comply with ANSI-748, a national standard for EVMS. SECRO’s monthly cost reports allegedly did not comply with this standard. After the government declined to intervene, the relator pursued a claim against SERCO arguing that its failure to comply with ANSI-748 amounted to a fraud against the government. (more…)