GSA's $13 billion fraud claim relies on cases predating task force

The General Services Administration claims it has uncovered more than $13 billion in suspected fraud by federal contractors since launching its anti-fraud task force in March.

The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is using governmentwide contract data, public reporting, and inspector general enforcement information to uncover the fraud, GSA said in its announcement.

“Let this serve as a warning to any bad actors thinking of stealing from the federal government: we will catch you, we will work with law enforcement to ensure your arrest, and we will do everything in our power to help recover every dollar you stole,” said GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst.

The GSA announcement doesn’t offer examples of the fraud but links off to a Breitbart News article that cites examples the organization says GSA provided it.

But the examples Breitbart cites predate the launch of the fraud task force and at least one case predates the Trump administration.

The alleged fraud of the cases adds up to about $117 million, and the companies paid $29 million to settle the allegations.

GSA did not respond to a request to confirm the Breitbart story or provide information on the number of fraud cases it has referred to the Justice Department.

While not actually uncovered by the fraud task force, the allegations at the three companies cited by Breitbart are egregious.

Sierra Nevada Corp. agreed to pay $7.75 million to settle False Claims Act allegations because it hired a consultant, Michael Henry, while he was still employed by the Defense Department’s Joint Staff/J6.

He formed a business with another, unnamed Sierra Nevada employee, but took that person’s name off the business to hide any connection, according to Henry’s 2025 plea agreement. DOJ indicted Henry in 2024 of “acts affecting a personal financial interest,” the court document states.

Henry helped the company win three contracts with DOD. Breitbart reports that Sierra Nevada allegedly committed $44 million in suspected fraud.

Sierra Nevada’s settlement with the Justice Department was announced last month. DOJ said the company “knowingly made, or knowingly caused to be made, material false statements, material false certifications, and material omissions” involving organizational conflicts of interest.

According to court records, Sierra Nevada didn’t put any OCI mitigation practices in place when it hired Henry.

The agreement with DOJ settles the allegations but is not a finding of civil liability, according to the Justice Department.

The second case Breitbart cited involves two companies and their senior executives. Broadway Electric and Cornerstone Contracting created a scheme to win contracts reserved for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses as well as other small businesses. Cornerstone is a subsidiary of Broadway Electric.

Broadway and Cornerstone were not qualified to bid on the contracts, as they were not service-disabled small businesses.

The Justice Department said the companies and their senior executives, John Oehler and Christian Blake, would enlist a SDVOSB to be the prime. While Broadway and Cornerstone did the work of preparing bids, securing bonding, and performing most of the work, they would pay the small business a fixed fee of between 1 and 3%, according to the settlement.

Part of the $21.3 million settlement will go to two whistleblowers, who will share $3.7 million.

The companies ran their scheme from 2019 to March 2025. The companies and the executives “admit, acknowledge, and accept responsibility” for their actions, according to DOJ.