Fraud committed during the process by which a government agency or private organization purchases goods, services or public works, encompassing documented schemes such as bid rigging among ostensibly competing bidders, a contractor billing for work never performed or materials never delivered, a public official steering a contract to a favored bidder in exchange for a bribe or kickback, and the submission of a falsified qualification or cost proposal to win a contract for which the bidder is not genuinely eligible. Government procurement fraud is documented by oversight bodies including inspectors general and the United States Government Accountability Office as a persistent source of loss in public contracting because the scale and complexity of large procurement processes make an individual fraudulent transaction difficult to detect among many legitimate ones.
Facts
Partially Attested
Classification Code18 U.S.C. 1031 covers fraud in federal contracts and other federal assistance of $1,000,000 or more, a federal subset of procurement fraud; the source does not use the term procurement fraud. Typical PenaltyFine of not more than $1,000,000, or imprisonment of not more than 10 years, or both 1 Penalty for the federal major fraud offense (contract value $1,000,000 or more); the source does not use the term procurement fraud. Elements of OffenseKnowingly executing or attempting to execute a scheme or artifice with intent to defraud the United States in a grant, contract, subcontract or other form of Federal assistance valued at $1,000,000 or more 1 Elements of the federal major fraud offense (contract value $1,000,000 or more); the source does not use the term procurement fraud. Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. 18 U.S. Code 1031, Major fraud against the United States (Cornell LII)
Section title
Major Fraud Against the United States
Section 1031(a), penalty clause
Be fined not more than $1,000,000, or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
Section 1031(a)
Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, any scheme or artifice with the intent to defraud the United States
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