FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV MONDAY, JULY 31, 1995 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 UNITED STATES SETTLES WITH ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL FOR $27 MILLION IN B1-B BOMBER OVERCHARGING CASE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rockwell International will pay the United States $27 million to settle allegations the company knowingly failed to provide the United States with accurate, complete and current information in negotiating multi-billion dollar contracts in 1981 to develop the B1-B bomber and the first nine B1-B bomber planes, the Department of Justice announced today. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Frank Hunger said the United States alleged that Rockwell failed to tell the government that changes in its corporate costs and a change in California law reduced the company's costs of doing business. These cost reductions were not passed on to the government despite Rockwell's specific agreement with the United States to do so, Hunger said. Rockwell, based in Seal Beach, California, was awarded two contracts totalling $4.4 billion in 1982. Hunger said the Department reached the agreement with Rockwell after informing the corporation of its potential liability under the False Claims Act. The matter was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and negotiated by the Department's Civil Division. "We are pleased to reach this agreement with Rockwell which corrects long standing inequities in the prices charged by Rockwell on the affected contracts," Hunger said. Hunger commended the work of the pricing branch of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in assisting in the resolution of the matter. ### 95-423