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Aerojet Settles False Claims Act Case Alleging That the Company Misrepresented Its Compliance with Cybersecurity Requirements

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Aerojet and the qui tam relator have entered into a 13th hour settlement—after a jury was seated and the trial was underway—to resolve the much-watched United States ex rel. Brian Markus v. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. False Claims Act (“FCA”) case. The parties—including the Department of Justice, which must consent to the settlement of qui tam claims—all seem to agree they do not want to run the risk of leaving this matter to be decided by a jury. Although it will not be the fully litigated test case for cyber-related FCA liability, the settlement shows that cyber noncompliance can have real financial consequences for government contractors.

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Aerojet and the qui tam relator have entered into a 13th hour settlement—after a jury was seated and the trial was underway—to resolve the much-watched United States ex rel. Brian Markus v. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. False Claims Act (“FCA”) case. The parties—including the Department of Justice, which must consent to the settlement of qui tam claims—all seem to agree they do not want to run the risk of leaving this matter to be decided by a jury. Although it will not be the fully litigated test case for cyber-related FCA liability, the settlement shows that cyber noncompliance can have real financial consequences for government contractors.Read the full <a target="_blank" href="https://govcon.mofo.com/topics/aerojet-settles-false-claims-act-case-compliance-cybersecurity-requirements.html">blog post</a>.

Aerojet Settles False Claims Act Case Alleging That the Company Misrepresented Its Compliance with Cybersecurity Requirements

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<div style="margin-bottom: 15px;" class="videoWrapper"><iframe class="sticky-video" title="Meet Alex Ward, Government Contracts Practice Co-Chair" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/TkliwdSlTaQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="1" title="iframe"></iframe></div>J. Alex Ward is co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts and Public Procurement group. His practice covers a full range of government contracts matters, including investigations, bid protests, claims, general litigation, corporate transactions, and counseling. Alex strives in all matters is to provide his clients the highest level of efficient and effective representation.Alex represents contractors in internal and external investigations, disclosures to the government, and qui tam litigation, with great success in reducing or eliminating his clients’ exposure through active engagement with the government. His work in this area includes obtaining numerous declinations and dismissals of False Claims Act cases in their earliest stages, sparing his clients the cost, risk, and exposure of litigation.He has also served as lead counsel in dozens of bid protests involving military and civilian agency procurements of a wide range of products and services, including all manner of pre- and post-award protests in the GAO, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and state tribunals, as well as appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and size protest appeals before the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.Alex handles all aspects of the claims process, from the initial assessment and drafting of requests for equitable adjustment through litigation in the Boards of Contract Appeals and the Court of Federal Claims. Alex’s practice also covers the full gamut of other controversies confronting government contractors, including prime-sub, teaming partner, employer-employee, competitor, and indemnification disputes. His litigation work also includes a wide variety of pro bono engagements, in which he has represented both individual and institutional clients in matters ranging from immigration and criminal defense to sustainable procurement and protection of the environment.Prior to joining the firm, Alex served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer and an Assistant to the General Counsel of the Army responsible for civil works and international matters, and as a clerk for judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the D.C. Circuit. He is a member of the Boards of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and of Law360’s Government Contracts Editorial Board.

J. Alex Ward

Partner

Tina is co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts & Public Procurement practice. She represents a wide variety of government contractors including information technology, defense, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as research organizations and universities, with a focus on general contract counseling and compliance, intellectual property and cybersecurity matters, federal grant funding, and state and local government contracting matters.Tina routinely advises clients on:<ul><li>Contract negotiations and prime-subcontractor relationships</li><li>Sources of supply and country of origin requirements</li><li>Organizational conflicts of interest and other ethics considerations</li><li>Safeguarding of intellectual property and other proprietary interests</li><li>Licensing and data rights issues</li><li>Handling of classified materials and controlled unclassified information</li><li>Freedom of Information and Public Records Act requests</li></ul>She also conducts due diligence and other activities related to the acquisition of government contracting concerns, and drafts and negotiates teaming agreements, subcontracts, licensing agreements, and cooperative research and development agreements, Small Business Innovative Research (“SBIR”) and Small Business Technology Transfer Program (“STTR”) agreements, and other transaction authority (“OTA”) agreements.Tina’s litigation experience includes government contracts claims litigation in federal courts and before boards of contract appeals, bid protests before the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims, and complex disputes in federal courts, including civil fraud and False Claims Act litigation, and reverse Freedom of Information Act litigation.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Tina worked at another large national firm and as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of the Navy, Office of the General Counsel, Navy Litigation Office.<h4>Recent Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Negotiated the largest CHIPS Act federal funding agreement between a multinational semiconductor corporation and the U.S. Department of Commerce. </li><li>Negotiated a prime contract and major subcontracts related to the Department of Energy’s next generation supercomputer program, including extensive IP rights and associated patent rights waivers. </li><li>Negotiated a series of other transaction authority agreements with DARPA and associated subcontracts with more than a dozen research universities on behalf of a firm biotech client, including complex IP rights allocations and material transfer agreements. </li><li>Assisting clients with the FedRAMP authorization process and the development of license agreements for software products sold to federal, state, and local government agencies. </li><li>Providing cyber incident response counseling to some of the largest companies and organizations impacted by security incidents, many involving nation state threat actors. </li><li>Advising clients on Bayh-Dole reporting of inventions and IP strategies for contracts and grants. </li><li>Conducting due diligence for major government contract mergers and acquisitions, including, for example, Salesforce’s $8 billion acquisition of Informatica and Palo Alto Networks’ $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk. </li><li>Advising clients on litigation strategy for False Claims Act matters, including those being handled by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) cyber fraud initiative.</li></ul>

Tina D. Reynolds

Tori Dalcourt Angle is a senior associate in Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts and Public Procurement Practice Group and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.Tori’s practice runs the gamut of litigation and counseling in federal procurement matters, with an emphasis on bid protests, internal and external investigations, False Claims Act matters, contract claims and disputes, and compliance with federal statutes and regulations.Tori regularly represents contractors in pre- and post-award bid protests. She has represented both protesters and awardees in scores of protests before the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and procuring agencies, in acquisitions ranging from small business procurements to multibillion-dollar contracts. Her protests have included both classified and unclassified programs. In addition to prevailing in published decisions, Tori has also secured favorable corrective action on behalf of clients in a wide variety of protests that were resolved without a published decision.Tori has extensive experience conducting investigations with False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Act, Procurement Integrity Act, and suspension and debarment implications. She has advised clients regarding procurement fraud, anti-corruption, procurement integrity, and defective pricing, and has assisted clients with voluntary and mandatory disclosures under the Federal Acquisition Regulation. In addition, Tori has defended clients in a number of qui tam actions.Tori has experience counseling clients on various compliance and regulatory issues, including Section 889 compliance, revolving door questions, organizational conflicts of interest, and the Truth in Negotiations Act.Tori earned her J.D. with honors and a concentration in Government Procurement Law from the George Washington University Law School, where she was an associate editor of The George Washington Law Review, a Dean’s Fellow in the Legal Research and Writing Program, a member of the Alternative Disputes Resolution Board, and a Murray J. Schooner Government Procurement Law Scholar. She also won multiple academic awards, including the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award from the National Contract Management Association, first place in the 2018 American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Journal Writing Competition, the 2018 Dentons Government Contracts Moot Court Competition, and Best Brief in the 2017 GW Law School First Year Moot Court Competition.During law school, Tori worked as a law clerk in Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts practice and participated in the firm’s summer associate program. She also completed an internship in Judge Firestone’s chambers at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.Prior to law school, Tori interned at the Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Branch, and the National Partnership for Women & Families. She graduated cum laude from American University, where she had dual majors in law & society and history, and a minor in economics.

Victoria Angle

Associate

Government Contracts + Public Procurement