In the world of computer contracts there is almost nothing as lucrative as a contract with the federal government. When a governmental contract is secured by a company it is essentially underscoring their validity as well as their financial security for at least the length of the contract. In fact, in the area of computing a governmental contract, which can entail licensing fees for millions of computers can reap revenue rewards of hundreds of millions of dollars. This is why the recent kickback lawsuits and settlement which involve some of the most powerful computing companies in the world can have repercussions that will be felt for years to come.
Essentially what is alleged is that when dealing with governmental agencies companies, such as Sun Systems, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, Accenture and Sun Microsystems would have “alliance relationships” with each other where there was a systematic way they proceeded to secure governmental contracts to get kickbacks from the awarding company. One alleged alliance is the use of Accenture consultants who were hired to examine certain IT company’s software where regardless of what the truth was they would review it in a favorable light to help secure a governmental contract for that particular company and therefore ensuring themselves a kickback of the profits in the end.
When securing a contract with the government you know that your company will be financially secure and stable for years to come. A government contract can account for hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. The lawsuits came about when several whistleblowers from each company came forward with the allegation of misconduct.
All the corporate plaintiffs maintain that there was no wrongdoing on their part of a recent settlement was reached in a contracting fraud case by Hewlett-Packard and EMC. Currently IT contractors with Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems and Accenture are still embroiled in a lawsuit with the Unites States government.