OTHER NEWS - Dec. 19, 1995

Contractor Settles Whistle-Blower Claim: Federal prosecutors in San Diego announced that Science Applications International Technology, a division of Science Application International Corp., agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a whistle-blower’s claim that the firm deceived the Air Force about navigational equipment. The payment by the major defense technology contractor settles a suit brought by J. Mark Hollis, an electrical engineer at SAIT. Hollis claimed that the company misled the Air Force about progress on development of cockpit instrumentation for the KC-135 and F-15. Hollis filed suit under the federal False Claims Act, and the U.S. attorney’s office intervened on his behalf. A spokesman for the parent company said the settlement does not constitute admission of wrongdoing and was a “business decision” reached because the cost of litigation would be greater than the amount of the settlement.