The federal government’s system for awarding set-aside contracts to small businesses is well-intended, hugely successful—and also rife with fraud. In this article, we’ll list and describe the five most common forms of set-aside contracting fraud. Then, we’ll explain how whistleblowers can help the government fight back against set-aside fraud, while also earning substantial monetary rewards, by bringing qui tam cases under the False Claims Act.
First, some background on the contracting programs at issue. According to the annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard compiled by the Small Business Administration (SBA), in fiscal year 2023 the federal government awarded $178.6 billion worth of small business set-aside contracts. This amount includes both simple small business set-asides contracts (where any business that is “small” may compete for the contract), and also those contracts set aside for small businesses that have one of three particular types of ownership and management:
This amount also includes contracts set aside for small businesses that are located in historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones).
The $178.6 billion worth of contracts awarded to such small businesses in FY2023 represented more than 28%...
Akon made headlines last week over claims that his Akon City project had been abandoned by the Senegalese government. Speaking with Philadelphia media personality Mina Saywhat on the Minas' House ...