USAID OIG Announces Settlement of False Claims Act Case on Wages Paid for Idle Labor

USAID’s OIG recently announced the settlement of a False Claims Act (FCA) case against Interactive Research and Development – South Africa (IRD SA) in which they agreed to pay $671,914.

• The allegation was that IRD SA submitted vouchers to USAID for payroll for approximately 62 employees for several months despite being idle, waiting for approval of an MOU with local South African authorities. IRD-SA failed to inform USAID that the idled employees were not providing services.
• While the announcement of the case states that there was “no determination of liability, the 671,914 settlement is twice the amount of the funds received for the idled workers, $335,957, as provided for in the FCA.

Read the details of the announcement here.