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.

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