Whistleblower

Because reliability is critical with expensive and lethal weapons systems, the Defense Department requires its contractors to build those systems in accordance with very detailed product specifications. These specifications dictate not only the type of materials to be used for the contract, but also things like the appropriate quality assurance steps that the company must follow to ensure the quality of the product. Although the burdens imposed by the specifications are costly, the government covers those costs as part of the contractor's payment.

If a company starts to overrun its budget on a contract, particularly a fixed-price contract, or falls behind in its delivery schedule, it may be tempted to cut corners by omitting required testing, quality procedures or other steps in the production process. If company personnel do this intentionally, they and the company are committing fraud against the government.