Interactive Research and Development South Africa NPC (IRD SA) has agreed to pay $671,914 to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) false claims for payment related to employees of IRD SA who were allegedly not working.
In October 2019, USAID awarded a Cooperative Agreement (the Award) to IRD SA to provide healthcare services in South Africa. The Award’s period of performance was between Oct. 15, 2019, and Jan. 30, 2023. Federal funds were used to make payments to IRD SA under the Award. These federal funds were processed through a service center in Charleston, South Carolina. Under the Award, IRD SA agreed to provide a comprehensive package of tuberculosis treatment and prevention services across various provinces or districts in South Africa. Performing such services required a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between IRD SA and certain local South African authorities. Because the execution of the MOU with the local authorities in one of the provinces or districts was delayed for several months, approximately 62 employees of IRD SA were unable to perform Award-related services between January and June 2021. During this time, IRD SA failed to inform USAID that the idled employees weren’t performing such services. Instead, between March and July 2021, IRD SA submitted six vouchers to USAID that falsely certified compliance with the Award, and that improperly sought reimbursement for non-allowable labor costs and other costs associated with the idled workers. As a result, IRD SA received and/or retained approximately $335,957 in federal funds related to the idled workers covering the period of January to June 2021. MORE