FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV FRIDAY, JULY, 7, 1995 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 GTE GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS CORPORATION AND CANADIAN MARCONI CORPORATION TO PAY $3.2 MILLION IN FALSE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C. - - Frank W. Hunger, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and Donald K. Stern, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, announced today that GTE Government Systems Corporation of Taunton, Massachusetts, and Canadian Marconi Corporation of Quebec, Canada, have agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle allegations the firms violated the False Claims Act by selling to the Army radios that did not meet the hot weather temperature performance requirements of the contract. The radios were intended for use under combat conditions at high temperatures up to 131 degrees Fahrenheit that might be encountered in desert and tropical areas. As part of the agreement, GTE Government Systems and Canadian Marconi will also conduct, at GTE Government System's and Canadian Marconi's expense, a retesting and repair program of the affected units. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act permit a private citizen to file suit on behalf of the federal government and collect a portion of the money if the government's action is successful. A former GTE Government Systems employee originally brought the qui tam false claims lawsuit in U.S. district court in Boston. The Government intervened and took over the lawsuit in February, 1995. "This settlement is intended to insure that the United States Army has absolute confidence that all their radios will work without failure at high temperatures," said Hunger. GTE Government Systems provides electronic systems, equipment, and support to the United States Army. In 1985, GTE Government Systems was awarded a contract by the United States Army for the manufacture of field communications equipment related to the Army's non-developmental production Mobile Subscriber Equipment ("MSE") program. The MSE system provides communications within an Army's Corps and Division level area of operations. In 1986, GTE Government Systems entered into a subcontract with CMC to supply line of sight [AN/GRC-226(V)] radios to GTE Government Systems for inclusion into the MSE communication system. Hunger said the relator disclosed to the government in his lawsuit that after conducting internal testing during the Fall, 1990, GTE Government Systems engineers concluded that a number of the 2,500 radios that had been delivered to the Army prior to late 1990 failed to properly perform at high temperatures. The Army was not fully informed of the results of the internal testing. The case was jointly investigated by the Army's Criminal Investigative Command's Boston Fraud Field Office and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's Boston Resident Agency. ### 95-383