Contractors, grantees and benefit recipients in Delaware now face a single, standing enforcement team built to find fraud against federal programs. U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Wallace has launched the District of Delaware's Program Fraud Task Force, which pulls in the Justice Department's new National Fraud Enforcement Division, 15 federal law enforcement agencies and two state agencies. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the General Services Administration's Office of Inspector General sit at the table alongside the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and a long list of agency inspectors general.
The U.S. Attorney's Office hosted the group's first meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2026, and announced the task force in a release republished by GSA OIG. Wallace, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kaufman, Civil Chief Dylan Steinberg and District Fraud Counsel Bryan Williamson all addressed the partner agencies at that session.
Who Sits on the Delaware Program Fraud Task Force?
The membership reads like a map of where federal money flows into the state. On the federal side, the release lists the Amtrak OIG, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission OIG, GSA-OIG, IRS-CI, the Social Security Administration OIG, and the inspectors general for the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Transportation and Veterans Affairs. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Small Business Administration OIG round out the federal roster.
Two state bodies join them: the Delaware Office of the Inspector General and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services' Audit and Recovery Management Services unit. That pairing is useful for programs where federal dollars pass through state agencies before reaching a vendor or provider, because state-level reviewers have a view of that spending that federal agencies may lack.
Wallace framed the effort around the taxpayer. "Americans work hard for their paychecks, and they rightfully expect that every cent taken out of those paychecks in federal taxes is used as Congress intended," he said. He added that the office and its partners have always pursued fraud, "But through our Program Fraud Task Force, we can—and will—improve our fraud-fighting efforts by banding together and reaping the benefits of increased collaboration."
What Is at Stake in Delaware's $4.1 Billion in Federal Funding?
Delaware receives approximately $4.1 billion in direct federal funding each year, according to the office, covering public health, housing, agriculture, transportation, infrastructure, education and other programs. The task force's job is to recover any portion of that money diverted by fraud.
The office already has a track record to build on. Over the past three fiscal years, its Civil Division resolved more than 20 fraud-on-the-government matters under the False Claims Act, obtaining judgments and settlements in excess of $76 million. Over the same period, its Criminal Division prosecuted approximately 14 defendants for defrauding the government, and those defendants were ordered to repay approximately $22 million in restitution.
Those figures show both tracks the office uses. Civil False Claims Act cases carry treble damages and per-claim penalties and often end in negotiated settlements with companies. Criminal cases target individuals and can end in prison time plus restitution. A task force that shares leads across 17 agencies can feed both pipelines at once.
How the National Fraud Enforcement Division Drives This
The Delaware task force is part of a nationwide initiative. On April 7, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED), which Latham & Watkins describes in a client alert as a new "litigating division" within the Justice Department.
In his memorandum establishing the division, Blanche acknowledged that while DOJ has a long history of fraud enforcement, it "has never adopted a comprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs," as quoted by Latham.
According to Latham's summary of the memo, the division will coordinate with benefit-administering agencies, partner with federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement, and build a National Fraud Detection Center: a prosecutor-led unit of data analysts from multiple federal agencies that generates leads for investigators and prosecutors. Blanche directed NFED to assume "operational control" of the Criminal Division's Tax Section, Health Care Fraud Unit, and Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald leads the division.
The memo also reached directly into U.S. Attorney's Offices. Within 21 days, each office had to designate an experienced prosecutor to be detailed to NFED for its district. The FBI was directed to add agents, analysts and forensic accountants for fraud work, and DOJ grant components were told to help state and local prosecutors join as "Special Attorneys or Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys." Delaware's task force, with its two state partners and its district fraud counsel, fits that national push, though the sources do not say the task force was created under the memo.
Blanche described NFED's mandate as "primarily criminal," per Latham, though he said its scope could change. Latham identifies the division's targets as healthcare fraud, tax fraud, benefits fraud and schemes to misappropriate taxpayer dollars.
Why DCIS and GSA-OIG Membership Matters
Most of the task force's partners police benefit programs: Social Security, housing assistance, agriculture and health programs. The presence of DCIS and GSA-OIG suggests procurement fraud may be in scope too, though the release does not say so. DCIS investigates fraud on Defense Department contracts, and GSA-OIG oversees GSA's contracting and acquisition programs. SBA-OIG brings small business program eligibility into the mix.
The same Delaware office has already shown its interest in contractor cases. On November 3 it announced a $13 million False Claims Act settlement with ILC Dover and ILC Astrospace over cybersecurity requirements in their contracts with the Army, the Missile Defense Agency and NASA.
What It Means for Contractors
Companies that hold federal contracts, subcontracts or grants with Delaware performance, or that bill programs administered through Delaware agencies, should expect a shorter path from an anomaly to an investigation. When DCIS, GSA-OIG, SBA-OIG and state auditors meet in the same room and share information, a tip or audit finding in one agency can surface in another's case file.
The NFED's planned National Fraud Detection Center adds a data-analytics layer meant to identify fraud across government programs, which could flag billing patterns before a whistleblower ever files suit. Contractors should treat compliance certifications, including cybersecurity attestations, small business size and status representations, and pricing disclosures, as potential False Claims Act exposure, not paperwork.
Practical steps include testing internal hotlines and escalation paths, documenting the basis for every certification, and reviewing mandatory disclosure obligations under the FAR so that problems found internally reach the government before an investigator does. The Delaware model could travel: every U.S. Attorney's Office was directed to detail a prosecutor to NFED, and a district task force gives that prosecutor a ready set of agency partners.
