123STA T . 1 6 23 PUBLIC LA W 111 – 21 —M A Y 2 0, 200 9‘ ‘ (i i ) i smadeto a c o n t r actor ,g rantee, or ot h er reci p ient, i f the mone y or property is to b e spent or u sed on the G o v ernment ’ s beha l f or to advance a Government program or interest, and if the U nited S tates Government — ‘‘( I ) provides or has provided any portion of the money or property re q uested or demanded
or ‘‘(II) w ill reimburse such contractor, grantee, or other recipient for any portion of the money or property which is requested or demanded; and ‘‘( B ) does not include requests or demands for money or property that the Government has paid to an individual as compensation for F ederal employment or as an income subsidy with no restrictions on that individual’s use of the money or property; ‘‘( 3 ) the term ‘obligation’ means an established duty, whether or not fi x ed, arising from an express or implied contrac - tual, grantor-grantee, or licensor-licensee relationship, from a fee-based or similar relationship, from statute or regulation, or from the retention of any overpayment; and ‘‘( 4 ) the term ‘material’ means having a natural tendency to influence, or be capable of influencing, the payment or receipt of money or property . ’’; (3) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and (4) in subsection (c), as redesignated, by stri k ing ‘‘subpara- graphs ( A ) through ( C ) of subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- section (a)( 2 )’’. (b) I NTERV ENT IO N BY T H E GOVERN M ENT.—Section 3 7 3 1 (b) of title 31, United States Code, is amended— (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and (3) by inserting the new subsection (c)
‘‘(c) If the Government elects to intervene and proceed with an action brought under 373 0 (b), the Government may file its own complaint or amend the complaint of a person who has brought an action under section 3730(b) to clarify or add detail to the claims in which the Government is intervening and to add any additional claims with respect to which the Government contends it is entitled to relief. For statute of limitations purposes, any such Government pleading shall relate back to the filing date of the complaint of the person who originally brought the action, to the extent that the claim of the Government arises out of the conduct, transactions, or occurrences set forth, or attempted to be set forth, in the prior complaint of that person.’’. (c) CIVI L INVE S TI GA TIVE D EMAN D S.—Section 3733 of title 31, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) in paragraph (1)— (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A)— (I) by inserting ‘‘, or a designee (for purposes of this section),’’ after ‘‘ W henever the Attorney General’’; and (II) by striking ‘‘the Attorney General may, before commencing a civil proceeding under section 3730 or other false claims law,’’ and inserting ‘‘the
