DOJ Launches ‘FOCUS’ Initiative to Prioritize High-Tech Whistleblowers

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is restructuring the way it prioritizes whistleblowers who file fraud-related lawsuits on behalf of the government as a result of their data mining efforts.  

A qui tam claim is a lawsuit brought by a private individual against a person or company defrauding the government. Those suits are made under the False Claims Act, which rewards the whistleblower with 15% to 30% of the amount recovered by the government.  

On April 30, the DOJ launched its Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of Statistics (FOCUS) initiative, which it said will prioritize False Claims Act filings from data miners deemed high quality. Data miners analyze publicly available government data for identifiers of fraud. 

Through the FOCUS initiative, DOJ said it will work with data miners who “demonstrate an insightful application of sophisticated technological capabilities to regulatory frameworks to help identify potential fraud that would otherwise go undetected.” 

That move follows a sharp increase in the number of qui tam complaints filed in recent years. A DOJ report from January stated that nearly 1,300 qui tam suits were filed in fiscal year (FY) 2025, up from the previous record of 980 set in FY 2024. More than $85 billion in settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act have been recovered since 1986, with $6.8 billion coming from FY 2025 alone, DOJ added. 

“Sophisticated data analytics have become an increasingly important means of identifying fraud trends and uncovering patterns of misconduct across federal programs,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement.  

For those who want to work with the DOJ under the FOCUS initiative, the department said that data miners can meet with the Civil Fraud Section to discuss their ability to reliably root out fraud.  

“Participants should be prepared to explain what differentiates their approach, how they validate their findings, and why their methodology provides a reliable basis for identifying high-quality, actionable False Claims Act matters,” Brenna Jenny, deputy assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Division, said. 

While those meetings are not a requirement to file a qui tam claim, the DOJ said it will prioritize data miners who demonstrate an “investment in pre-filing diligence and commitment to analytical rigor, familiarity with program rules, and legally sufficient allegations.” 

Commonly filed qui tam lawsuits deal with healthcare fraud and procurement fraud – which could include misrepresenting facts or qualifications to secure a government contract, according to the Federal Bar Association.  

Defense contracting fraud is also a common qui tam suit, which often is tied to inflated prices or insufficient goods sold to the military, the bar association added. Last year, the Pentagon reported almost $11 billion in confirmed fraud between 2017 and 2024.