Government contractor to pay $1.95M to settle False Claims Act allegations

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Intelligent Waves, LLC, located in Reston, and its owner agreed to pay $1.95 million to settle False Claims Act allegations involving two Air Force contracts.

In September 2019, Intelligent Waves entered into a contract, known as the Crowd-Sourced Contract, with the Air Force. Under the Crowd-Sourced Contract, Intelligent Waves provided crowd-sourced flight data collection support and data analytics to the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. The United States alleged that Intelligent Waves knowingly sold certain equipment to the Air Force that was not authorized under the Crowd-Sourced Contract and submitted invoices to the Air Force that portrayed the unauthorized equipment as authorized equipment under the Contract. The United States also alleged that Intelligent Waves knowingly invoiced the Air Force for products and/or labor that it did not deliver in the specific quantities stated in its invoices. After it failed to deliver the products and/or labor stated in its invoices, Intelligent Waves failed to provide a credit to the Air Force for undelivered products and/or labor, providing substitute products requested by non-procurement personnel instead.

In November 2020, Intelligent Waves also entered into a contract, known as the Special Access Program Facilities (SAPF) Contract, with the Air Force to build special access program facilities at Edwards Air Force Base,. The United States alleged that Intelligent Waves knowingly made false statements that induced the award of the SAPF Contract.

The United States alleged that Intelligent Waves provided meals and entertainment to Air Force employees before the award of and during the period of performance of the Crowd-Sourced and SAPF contracts.  

This settlement arises in connection with a lawsuit filed by two former Intelligent Waves employees under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, United States ex rel. Taylor et al. v. Intelligent Waves, LLC et al. The lawsuit alleged that Intelligent Waves’ owner was aware of certain of the alleged wrongful conduct. A whistleblower suit, or qui tam action under the False Claims Act, is commenced by an individual filing a complaint under seal in the U.S. District Court and providing a copy of the complaint and evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The United States then has an opportunity to investigate the claims. The False Claims Act provides whistleblowers with a share of the government’s recovery.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

This matter was investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Kapoor and Forensic Auditor Peter Melaragni.

The civil claims settled by this False Claims Act agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.

Related court documents and information from the civil lawsuit can be accessed on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:22-cv-1463.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.