PROVIDENCE – RPS Group Inc., a Houston company that owns Applied Science Associates in South Kingstown, has agreed to pay the government more than $465,000 to settle violations of the False Claims Act, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary A. Cunha announced Thursday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Rhode Island and the Southern District of Texas investigated allegations that between June 2011 and July 2020 RPS Group violated the False Claims Act in order to maximize revenue and avoid hitting its budgetary ceiling.
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An investigation found that the company, which held several contracts with the federal government, was unlawfully engaged in a practice of moving recorded labor hours between government projects with different funding sources; submitted invoices for work that was not performed on government contracts; and falsely inflated employee billing rates. The government said these practices occurred across numerous government contracts and resulted in the submission of false invoices to multiple government agencies.
The company agreed to pay the government $465,293 to settle these claims, which were brought to light by a corporate disclosure by RPS Group and through complaints raised by four former employees.
RPS Group has since been acquired by Tetra Tech of Pasadena, Calif.
