Qui Tam is a provision of the Federal Civil False Claims Act enacted by Congress to give private citizens the right to file suit against government contractors and other organizations that receive or use governmental funds.

The False Claims Act entitles a variety of individuals and entities (often called whistleblowers) to file suit, the most common being employees, former employees, competitors and subcontractors, state and local governments and federal employees.

Violations that can be reported under the False Claims Act include:

• Preparing a false record or statement to get a fraudulent claim paid by the government.
• Conspiring with another individual to have a fraudulent claim paid by the government.
• Holding government property with the intent to defraud or to conceal it from the government.
• Creating or delivering a fraudulent receipt to the government for its property.
• Fraudulently buying government property from someone who is not authorized to sell the property.
• Making a false statement to fraudulently avoid paying a debt or delivering property to the government.
• Causing someone else to submit a false or fraudulent government claim.

If you uncover a situation where you believe the government is being defrauded, you have the right to between 15 and 30 percent of the amount recovered depending on the government's involvement in the action. In the year 2003 alone the amount of U.S. recoveries in qui tam cases totaled 7.8 billion, with whistleblowers recovering a total of 1.3 billion.

Please contact an attorney specialized in Qui Tam law if you suspect any person, company or entity involved in defrauding the Government. The need to act quickly on these issues is vital because only the first individual to file a claim will have the right to compensation.