LIVERMORE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Performant Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:PFMT), a leading provider of technology-enabled recovery and related analytics services, today announced that its subsidiary, Performant Recovery, Inc., has been awarded a contract by the United States Department of Education to serve as the Department's payment recapture contractor.
Under the terms of this contract, Performant will leverage its proprietary data mining technology to conduct a payment recapture audit of goods and services contracted by the Department (excluding grants and student loans) for fiscal years 2007-2012, a portfolio totaling approximately $9 billion ($1.5 billion annually). Performant will identify, evaluate and report the root causes for contract overpayments and support the recovery of improper payments.
"We are excited about this opportunity to provide significant value to the Department of Education's efforts to reduce improper payments through our payment integrity solutions and technology," said Performant Financial's Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Im.
Performant's success is aligned to an intensifying bipartisan effort to cut wasteful spending in federal agencies through the Improper Payment Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA). It is estimated by the U.S. Government (paymentaccuracy.gov) that over $100 billion of federal government funds are lost due to improper payments each year. By expanding its payment integrity expertise in federal agencies, Performant continues to support the cause of reducing waste of American taxpayers' dollars.
The term of the contract is from January 2013 to January 2014.
About Performant Financial Corporation
Performant Financial Corporation is a leading provider of technology-enabled recovery and related analytics services. The Company's services help identify and recover delinquent or defaulted assets and improper payments for various government, healthcare and financial services markets in the United States. The Company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Livermore, California.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the Company's ability to recover improper payments on behalf of the Department of Education. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections that are subject to change and actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the high level of revenue concentration among the Company's five largest customers, that many of the Company's customer contracts are subject to periodic renewal, are not exclusive and do not provide for committed business volumes, that the Company faces significant competition in all of its markets, that the U.S. federal government accounts for a significant portion of the Company's revenues, that future legislative and regulatory changes may have significant effects on the Company's business, failure of the Company's or third parties' operating systems and technology infrastructure could disrupt the operation of the Company's business and the threat of breach of the Company's security measures or failure or unauthorized access to confidential data that the Company possesses. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial condition and operating results is included from time to time in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations.