Defense contractor L3Harris Technologies has agreed to pay $62 million to resolve allegations concerning inflated prices for military equipment sold to the U.S. military, as announced by the Department of Justice on Thursday.
Recently, L3Harris was selected to assist in modifying a luxurious Boeing 747 jet owned by Qatar’s royal family, which President Donald Trump has proposed using as a new Air Force One, according to a report by Finance Newso earlier this month.
The settlement was made public just a day after the Pentagon officially accepted the aircraft as a gift from the Qatari royal family.
“L3Harris is pleased to have been able to amicably resolve the matter referenced in the DOJ’s announcement,” the company stated in a communication to Finance Newso.
The issues at hand date back to 2006 through 2014, and the settlement was reached without any admission of wrongdoing.
“We remain committed to the integrity of the government procurement process and to providing accurate cost and pricing data,” L3Harris emphasized.
The company refrained from commenting on whether it will continue its role in the modifications for the new Air Force One.
The allegations regarding false claims by the DOJ stem from pricing proposals L3Harris submitted for various products procured by the government under “sole source, fixed price contracts” from October 2006 to February 2014.
The DOJ claims that “L3 failed to disclose accurate, complete, and current cost or pricing data relating to the labor, material, and other costs” associated with the products, and falsely certified compliance in multiple government contract proposals.
In the settlement, the company was referred to as L3 Technologies, the name it operated under before merging with Harris Corporation in 2019.
The DOJ clarified that the settlement does not imply any admission of liability by L3 nor does it concede that the government’s claims lack merit.
In a related development, the Trump administration recently announced the formation of an emergency task force, including executives from L3Harris, Verizon, and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration. This task force will tackle recent challenges related to air traffic control systems at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
