AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-based company Dell agreed to pay $2.3 million to the Army to resolve allegations that the tech giant violated the False Claims Act by submitting and causing the submission of non-competitive bids to the Army, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. This led to the Army being overcharged under its Army Desktop and Mobile Computing 3 contract.
Virginia-based company Iron Bow also agreed to pay around $2 million for its role in the allegations, according to the DOJ.
The settlement resolves allegations that took place from May 2020 to April 2024, per the DOJ.
The DOJ said Dell operated a deal registration program in which it gave “advantageous” pricing to Iron Bow to sell certain Dell products to the Army. Dell would then submit its own bid to the Army, with prices higher than Iron Bow’s, however, the DOJ said this would result in the false appearance of competition. This caused Dell’s higher direct bid to influence the Army’s decision-making and allowed Iron Bow to overcharge the government through collusion, according to the DOJ.