FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CIV
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1995                              (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
  CALIFORNIA FIRM PAYS U.S. $200,000 TO SETTLE CONTRACT DISPUTE

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A California aerospace company has paid
the United States $200,000 to settle allegations it won a federal
contract by falsely stating it could test space station
components when in fact it did not have that capability, the
Department of Justice announced today.
     Assistant Attorney General Frank Hunger of the Civil
Division said the settlement resolves a qui tam suit filed
against SMTEK Inc. of Newbury Park by a former employee of the
company, David Coffman, who filed a wrongful termination claim.  
     The Department, which intervened in the case, said SMTEK
received a $10 million subcontract in 1990 from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration by falsely stating the
manner in which it could do the tests, which included testing
computer circuit boards used on the space station.  
     After getting the contract, SMTEK said it would have to
incur additional costs to develop the capability it claimed it
already possessed.  The government absorbed the costs.  The
contract eventually was cancelled.
     Coffman, who filed his suit in U.S. District Court in Los
Angeles, will receive $35,000.  
     Under the qui tam amendments of the False Claims Act, a
private party can file a suit on behalf of the government and, if
the government takes over the suit and prosecutes the case
successfully, can receive a portion of the proceeds.
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95-297