A call to Action: Re-arming the government in the war against defense procurement Fraud

Fraud has been a persistent threat to the integrity of the federal procurement system, especially for the American military, since the days of the American Revolution. Recent reports of corrupt contractors and corrupted government officials clearly show that the problem remains unabated. This is a study of the history of procurement fraud, with a particular focus on the defense industry, an analysis of various systemic failures in the government’s corruption control legal regime, and a series of proposals to strengthen the government’s ability to combat it.

About the author: Michael J. Davidson enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1977. He graduated from West Point in 1982 and served as both an artillery officer and as an Army lawyer before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2002. He is currently a lawyer with the federal government.

After obtaining his law degree from the College of William and Mary, he obtained a master’s degree in military law from the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s School, a second master’s degree in government procurement law from George Washington University, and a Doctor of Judicial Science from George Washington University. As a lawyer, he has experience with procurement fraud in the criminal, civil, administrative and contractual contexts. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife, Nancy, and their three daughters.