Investigations

Fraud Scheme

Description

Bid Rigging & Collusion 

Contractors misrepresent that they are competing against each other when they actually agree to cooperate on the winning bid to increase job profit.

Materials Overcharging 

A contractor misrepresents how much construction material was used on a job in order to be paid for more material than was actually used.

Time Overcharging

A contractor misrepresents the distribution of employee labor in order to charge for more work hours, or a higher overhead rate to increase profit.

Product Substitution

A contractor misrepresents the type or quality of product used in order to reduce costs for construction materials.

Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) Fraud

A contractor misrepresents who performed the work in order to appear to be in compliance with contract goals for involvement of minority/women-owned businesses.

Quality-Control Testing Fraud

A contractor misrepresents the results of quality control tests in order to limit costs or increase profits, earn contract incentives, or avoid project shutdown.

Bribery

A contractor compensates a government official in exchange for obtaining contracts or permitting overcharges.

Kickbacks 

A contractor misrepresents the cost of performing work by secretly paying a fee for being awarded the contract and, therefore, inflating the cost to the government.

Conflicts of Interest 

A government contracting or oversight official has an undisclosed financial interest in a contractor or consultant, resulting in an improper contract award or inflated costs.

Household Goods Fraud

A moving company or broker misrepresents the cost of moving consumer household goods through a "low-ball" estimate to lure customers and then withholds the customer's goods unless an additional, exhorbitant sum is paid above the quoted price. (Learn more...)