A Rockville, Maryland, information technology contractor has agreed to pay more than $1.7 million to settle allegations that it charged the National Institutes of Health for costs that are not allowed to be reimbursed.
Capital Technology Information Services was accused of charging NIH for personal expenses between July 2013 and July 2018. These alleged costs included luxury vehicles, mortgage payments, housekeeping services and a wedding.
The purported expenses did not fall under the purview of the five-year grant NIH gave to CTIS or under the terms of a contract for CTIS to do IT work for NIH’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program.
Under the terms of the grant, CTIS was supposed to establish organizations that would study the impact of health care systems in a minority community and come up with ways to eliminate possible disparities.
The settlement resolves the government’s claims that CTIS violated the False Claims Act, and also settles a pair of lawsuits filed under the law’s whistleblower provisions by Sherette Rhodes, Connie Ezerski and others.
Two of the whistleblowers, unspecified by the Justice Department, will split one-tenth of the settlement money, or $171,294.94. The other whistleblower will receive the same payment individually.
CTIS cooperated with the investigation by the Justice Department and has not admitted any legal liability or wrongdoing.
“This settlement represents our continuing commitment to holding companies accountable who do not follow the rules for federal contracting and grants and take advantage of taxpayer funded programs,” said Erek Barron, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, in a statement Friday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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