San Diego, CA –
Five current and former members of DCAA’s Operations Investigative Support Division received the Excellence in the Pursuit of Justice Award from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Southern California. The auditors were recognized for their support of dual civil and criminal investigations into Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (NGSC). The suit alleged NGSC committed fraud related to its Battlefield Airborne Communications Node and Dynamic Re-tasking Capability contracts with the U.S. Air Force.
DCAA was required to have one team supporting the civil investigation and a second team supporting the criminal investigation because of the Federal Grand Jury secrecy requirements associated with the criminal investigation. The auditors supported the 5-year investigations by analyzing timekeeping records from various systems, computer access logs, bank records, and applying the results to multiple scenarios and damage models. The criminal investigation made extensive use of an innovative spreadsheet created by Auditor Mark North that merged timekeeping records with computer access logs allowing greater ease in analyzing claimed hours worked on the contracts.
Teamwork between DCAA, the various supported criminal investigating organizations, and with federal prosecutors, led to successful enforcement of the False Claims Act and protection of the U.S. Government and Taxpayers.
The Excellence in the Pursuit of Justice Award is designed to recognize federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who have significantly contributed to the Department of Justice mission.