GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 21 (UPI) — The University of Florida agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle claims it improperly charged the Department of Health and Human Services for salary and administrative costs on hundreds of federal grants.
The Department of Justice said between 2005 and 2010 the university overcharged the government for the salary of UF employees without documenting the funds and inflated costs for work done by a contractor. The university also asked for reimbursement for supplies and equipment that were not covered by the grant.
“The monies utilized by HHS to fund important medical research and clinical programs across the nation are both precious and limited,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said. “Today’s settlement demonstrates that the Department of Justice will pursue grantees that knowingly divert those funds from the projects for which they were provided.”
David Norton, the school’s vice president for research, said the government’s findings are the result of an accounting error discovered nine years ago and has since been fixed.
“We’ve made significant improvements for all of our compliance systems in recent years. We feel we are very much responsive to the federal government at this point,” he said.
The school continues to receive government research funding. Last year, it received $706 million, Norton said.
