Rising volumes of qui tam complaints are pushing the U.S. Justice Department to refine how it works with outside parties that identify potential fraud in federal programs. The new FOCUS initiative is designed to deepen engagement with data miners whose analytical methods can help uncover misconduct that might otherwise remain undetected.

Highlights

• The U.S. Department of Justice launched the FOCUS initiative to enhance False Claims Act enforcement by prioritizing whistleblower referrals using advanced data analytics and regulatory expertise.
• The Civil Division will grant meetings and priority to data miners who demonstrate rigorous pre-filing diligence, technology proficiency, and legally sufficient allegations without making meetings a pre-filing requirement.
• The initiative indicates a shift toward data-driven, selective enforcement that may affect compliance, healthcare, government contracting, and legal analytics firms seeking to detect and prevent federal program fraud.

Program targets stronger data mining partnerships

As announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Civil Division is introducing the Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of Statistics, or FOCUS, initiative to strengthen its anti-fraud work and improve collaboration with whistleblowers. The department says the number of qui tam complaints has risen rapidly in recent years, with much of that increase coming from companies and individuals that analyze publicly available government data for fraud...

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