United Parcel Service Agrees to Settle Alleged Civil False Claims Act Violations
May 19, 2015 United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the federal government in connection with its delivery of Next Day Air overnight packages, the Justice Department announced today. UPS is a package delivery company based in Atlanta.
“Protecting the federal procurement process from false claims is central to the mission of the Department of Justice,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to ensure that when federal monies are used to purchase commercial services the government receives the prices and services to which it is entitled.”
“This conduct affected numerous federal agencies,” said U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia. “We place high importance on the integrity of companies that provide services to the government. Combating all manners of fraud on the government is a high priority in the Eastern District of Virginia.”
UPS provides delivery services to hundreds of federal agencies through contracts with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and U.S. Transportation Command, which provides support to Department of Defense agencies. Under these contracts, UPS guaranteed delivery of packages by certain specified times the following day. The settlement announced today resolves allegations that from 2004 to 2014, UPS engaged in practices that concealed its failure to comply with its delivery guarantees, thereby depriving federal customers of the ability to request refunds for the late delivery of packages. In particular, the government alleged that UPS knowingly recorded inaccurate delivery times on packages to make it appear that the packages were delivered on time, applied inapplicable “exception codes” to excuse late delivery (such as “security delay,” “customer not in,” or “business closed”), and provided inaccurate “on-time” performance data under the federal contracts.
“The United States should get what it pays for, nothing less,” said Acting Inspector General Robert C. Erickson of the GSA.
The civil settlement resolves a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and obtain a portion of the government’s recovery. The civil lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia by Robert K. Fulk, a former employee of UPS, who will receive $3.75 million.
The resolution in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia, the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation OIG, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Department of Treasury OIG, with assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs OIG.
The lawsuit is captioned United States ex rel. Fulk v. United Parcel Service, Inc., et al., No. 1:11cv890 (E.D. Va.). The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
Why would “the feds” not use a fellow “fed” establishment? Is this not biting the hand that feeds you? Of course, we all know that USPS relies on UPS and “Fed”Ex to do much of the air shipments. Just a thought…
The US Postal Service DOES THE EXACT SAME THING!!! I have actually watched my STATION MANAGER scan a package with a guaranteed noon delivery time as attempted while she was standing in the station. The Express Mail package arrived in our station after the carriers had already left for the street. After she scanned it attempted, she then went out to deliver the package. This happens VERY often. I used to think the customers were just making things up when they came to the window to complain. They would state that they were standing there waiting for the package but no one came. After seeing what my own manager did, I have no reason to doubt the validity of any of these customer’s claims anymore.
Maybe the question that should be asked is why the Federal Government is having UPS deliver over night mail rather than the USPS? I think the Postal Service has a better on time delivery than UPS has.
Same ol’ same ol’ , Just follow the MONEY ! They probably picked up that much in interest in that period of time on their heist ! !