Maximus Inc., a consulting company that paid $30.5 million in July to resolve a False Claims Act suit, is being retained as a management consultant by the District of Columbia.
The District’s Department of Human Services will pay Maximus $1.9 million through next year. The extension of the firm’s contract was ratified Oct. 12 — apparently on “passive review,” which allows contracts to take effect automatically if no one on the District Council objects to it.
The San Francisco Examiner reported on the Maximus contract on October 30, 2007.
The July payment and agreements resolved an investigation of Maximus’ activities under a contract with the District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). Maximus helped CFSA submit claims to Medicaid for services provided by the District to children in its foster care program. A whistleblower suit, filed under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act, alleged that the company’s employees caused CFSA to submit claims to the Medicaid program for services for each child who had been placed in the care of CFSA whether or not services had in fact been provided to those children.