OPINION

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge.

In this action alleging a violation of the federal False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(2) (2006), defendant Circle C Construction, LLC ("Circle C") appeals an order of the district court denying its motions for summary judgment and to dismiss the amended complaint, and granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs United States of America, ex rel. Brian Wall ("plaintiffs") in the treble damages amount of $1,661,423.13.

We affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, but reverse the award of damages and remand for a recalculation of the damages.

I.

The relevant underlying facts are set forth in the district court's Memorandum Opinion:

United States ex rel. Wall v. Circle Constr., LLC, 700 F.Supp.2d 926, 930-32 (M.D.Tenn.2010) (hereinafter the "Wall" decision).

II.

On January 25, 2007, Relator Wall filed the present action on behalf of the United States, asserting a claim under the FCA against Circle C and Phase Tech. On October 29, 2007, the United States intervened in the action. On October 20, 2008, the United States moved for leave to file an amended complaint, and the district court granted the motion on October 23, 2008. The three-count amended complaint alleged: (1) a violation of the FCA, 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(2) (2006); (2) unjust enrichment; and (3) payment by mistake. Specifically, plaintiffs averred that all of the payroll certifications during the period when Wall and McPherson worked at the construction site were false because defendants (1) failed to disclose that any Phase Tech employees worked on the Circle C contract, and (2) the payroll certifications falsely asserted that Circle C paid the prevailing Davis-Bacon Act wages to employees, including Circle C's subcontracted employees, when this was not the case. The amended complaint further alleged that the United States believed that discovery would reveal additional false payroll certifications as well. On March 27, 2009, Circle C filed an answer to the amended complaint.

In May 2009, plaintiffs entered into a settlement agreement with Phase Tech, and, in June 2009, Phase Tech was voluntarily dismissed from this lawsuit.

Pertinent to the present appeal, the parties thereafter filed cross-motions for summary judgment. One argument made by Circle C in its summary judgment motion was that, under the Davis-Bacon Act, the Department of Labor, not the district court, has primary jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims. Circle C also filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint,1 in which it objected to what it deemed the late filing of plaintiffs' amended complaint (which resulted from the Clerk's Office's mistaken refiling of the otherwise timely amended complaint). From a substantive standpoint, Circle C also argued that plaintiffs failed to state their FCA claim with the requisite particularity called for by Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b), and that plaintiffs made no attempt to supplement the deficient pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(d).

On March 15, 2010, the district court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order granting plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and awarding a judgment against Circle C in the amount of $553,807.71, trebled per FCA requirements to $1,661,423.13. See Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 940. The court denied as moot Circle C's motions for summary judgment and to dismiss the amended complaint, finding first that Circle C's motions were untimely because they were filed after the court's deadline for dispositive motions set forth in the case management order. Id. at 929. Further, despite the Clerk's Office's "technical error" in belatedly docketing and refiling plaintiffs' amended complaint, the court held that Circle C waived its right to file its motion to dismiss by filing a responsive pleading (its answer to the amended complaint) before it filed the motion. Id. at 929-30. Additionally, the court rejected Circle C's primary jurisdiction argument in its summary judgment motion, arguing that the Davis-Bacon Act precludes use of an FCA remedy where, as here, the specific issue is the amount of wages paid. Id. at 930.

The district court then addressed plaintiffs' motion and, as to their FCA claim, held that: (1) Circle C violated the FCA by submitting false payroll certifications to the government regarding wages for Phase Tech employees, contrary to its agreement to abide by Davis-Bacon requirements; and, (2) because Circle C did not have a written subcontract with Phase Tech and did not ensure that Phase Tech complied with the Davis-Bacon Act, its wage certifications wrongly certified that prevailing wages were paid to Phase Tech electricians working on the Fort Campbell project, in violation of the FCA. Id. at 939.

With regard to plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claim, the district court held that Circle C was unjustly enriched by its receipt of contractual payments from the government for electrical work by Phase Tech employees that was not paid in compliance with its contractual wage requirements, thus rendering Circle C liable to plaintiffs for the substantial benefits that accrued to it by virtue of its non-compliance. Id. at 939. The court held, however, that the unjust enrichment judgment was cumulative given the court's award of treble damages to plaintiffs. Id. at 939-40.

Regarding damages that are properly measured by determining "the difference between what the government actually paid out by reason of the false claim over and above what it would have paid had the government known the true facts," the district court found the actual damages to be $553,807.71, and trebled this amount pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(7), yielding a judgment of $1,661,423.13 against Circle C. Id. at 940 (citations omitted). The court declined to impose the additional civil penalty sought by plaintiffs. Id.

On March 22, 2010, the district court entered its judgment. Circle C's subsequent motion to alter or amend the judgment was denied by the court, Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 940-41, and Circle C filed a timely Notice of Appeal on May 20, 2010.

III.

A.

We review the district court's order granting summary judgment de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. ATC Distrib. Group, Inc. v. Whatever It Takes Transmissions & Parts, Inc., 402 F.3d 700, 705 (6th Cir.2005). Summary judgment is proper if, viewing the facts and drawing all inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, "`the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.'" Bruederle v. Louisville Metro Gov't, 687 F.3d 771, 776 (6th Cir.2012) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a)). "A genuine issue of material fact exists when there is sufficient evidence for a trier of fact to find for the non-moving party." Ciminillo v. Streicher, 434 F.3d 461, 464 (6th Cir.2006). "A `mere scintilla' of evidence, however, is not enough for the non-moving party to withstand summary judgment." La Quinta Corp. v. Heartland Prop., LLC, 603 F.3d 327, 335 (6th Cir.2010) (citing Ciminillo, 434 F.3d at 464). "The standard of review for cross-motions for summary judgment does not differ from the standard applied when a motion is filed by only one party to the litigation." Lee v. City of Columbus, Ohio, 636 F.3d 245, 249 (6th Cir.2011) (citation omitted).

B.

As a preliminary matter, as Circle C argues and plaintiffs concede, the district court did in fact err in finding that Circle C's motion for summary judgment was untimely filed. In its opinion, the district court stated that the deadline for filing dispositive motions was November 13, 2009. See Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 929. However, it failed to note that it had extended that deadline "through and including November 17, 2009," when it granted Circle C's second motion for an extension of time. Circle C filed its motion for summary judgment on November 17. Thus, although Circle C's motion to dismiss the amended complaint, which was filed on January 12, 2010, was untimely, its motion for summary judgment was not. The district court therefore erred when it considered the two motions together in its analysis.

Nonetheless, this error was not prejudicial, because the district court proceeded to address the merits of all of Circle C's arguments made in its summary judgment motion, including the issue of primary jurisdiction, in ruling on plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. In addition, the court revisited its determination of damages when it denied Circle C's motion to alter or amend judgment and reaffirmed that its original damages finding was correct. Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 940-41. Thus, the district court's error did not preclude consideration of Circle C's arguments or affect its ultimate ruling. Cf. United States v. Gilmore, 282 F.3d 398, 405-06 (6th Cir. 2002) ("While lack of timeliness was part of the district court's rationale in denying Gilmore's 18 U.S.C. § 3006A motions, we need not address that issue because we find no error in the district court's denial of the motions on their merits.").

C.

Circle C raised the doctrine of primary jurisdiction as one of the grounds for summary judgment, arguing that the doctrine should be applied to an FCA claim involving the Davis-Bacon Act. The district court summarily dispatched this argument, stating "courts have rejected the argument that the Davis-Bacon Act somehow precludes use of an FCA remedy, where, as here, the specific issue is the amount of wages paid." Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 930 (citing Foundation for Fair Contracting, Ltd. v. G & M Eastern Contracting & Double E, LLC, 259 F.Supp.2d 329, 339-40 & n. 9 (D.N.J.2003); United States ex rel. IBEW v. G.E. Chen Constr., Inc., 954 F.Supp. 195, 197 (N.D.Cal.1997)). We apply de novo review to the district court's decision regarding primary jurisdiction. United States v. Haun, 124 F.3d 745, 747 (6th Cir.1997).

The primary jurisdiction doctrine is a rule of judicial construction which "allows courts to refer a matter to the relevant agency whenever enforcement of the claim requires the resolution of issues which, under a regulatory scheme, have been placed within the special competence of an administrative body." Charvat v. EchoStar Satellite, LLC, 630 F.3d 459, 466 (6th Cir.2010) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Fieger v. United States Att'y Gen., 542 F.3d 1111, 1121 (6th Cir.2008) ("[Under] the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, ... federal courts are to abstain from hearing certain administrative-related matters until the appropriate agency has had the opportunity to interpret unanswered technical and factual issues."). "When the doctrine is applicable, court proceedings are stayed so as to give the parties reasonable opportunity to `refer' the matter to an agency seeking an administrative ruling." Haun, 124 F.3d at 749 (citations omitted).2

Courts have referred matters to agencies for a variety of reasons: "(1) to advance regulatory uniformity; (2) to answer a question ... within the agency's discretion; and (3) to benefit from technical or policy considerations within the agency's... expertise." Charvat, 630 F.3d at 466 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). "No ready formula controls its application; courts instead look to whether the purposes of the doctrine, including uniformity and accuracy gained through administrative expertise, will be especially furthered by invocation in the particular litigation." Haun, 124 F.3d at 750. Overall, in light of the federal courts' "unflagging obligation" to exercise the jurisdiction accorded them, Haun, 124 F.3d at 752 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), primary jurisdiction "is limited... to cases where protection of the integrity of a regulatory scheme dictates preliminary resort to the agency which administers the scheme." Fieger, 542 F.3d at 1121 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

Moreover, "the doctrine does not apply when the specially competent agency is itself the plaintiff," because "`deference to an agency's primary jurisdiction makes little sense in the context of an enforcement proceeding initiated by the agency.'" United States v. Any and All Radio Station Transmission Equip., 204 F.3d 658, 664 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting United States v. Alcon Lab., 636 F.2d 876, 888 (1st Cir. 1981)); see also ICC v. Maine Cent. R. Co., 505 F.2d 590, 594 (2d Cir.1974); ICC v. All-American, Inc., 505 F.2d 1360, 1362 (7th Cir.1974); CAB v. Aeromatic Travel Corp., 489 F.2d 251, 254 (2d Cir.1973).

The injuries and remedies under the FCA and Davis-Bacon Act are separate and distinct. Compare 31 U.S.C. § 3729, 28 C.F.R. § 85.3(a)(9) (FCA false claims, treble damages, and civil penalties, respectively), with 40 U.S.C. §§ 3142, 3145 and 29 C.F.R. § 5.5 (Davis-Bacon Act wage and certification requirements and remedies). However, "[c]ases brought pursuant to the [False Claims] Act under the so-called false `certification theory' of liability necessarily implicate, to some degree, agency knowledge." United States ex rel. Taylor v. Gabelli, 345 F.Supp.2d 340, 353 (S.D.N.Y.2004) (footnote omitted). "This is particularly true where the gravamen of the Complaint is that defendants defrauded the Government by falsely certifying compliance with governing administrative regulations." Id. (footnote omitted).

Nonetheless, "`[m]ost courts that have considered the argument that a court should defer resolution of a False Claims Act case pending an agency's determination of one or more issues in the case have rejected it.'" Id. at 354 n. 60 (quoting Claire M. Sylvia, The False Claims Act: Fraud Against the Government § 10:13, at 474 (2004)). See, e.g., United States ex rel. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 38 v. Roen Constr. Co., 183 F.3d 1088, 1091-92 (9th Cir.1999) ("[A] false certification that workers have been paid at the legally required wage rate may give rise to liability under the FCA. If, as the Plumbers allege, [the defendant] submitted such false certifications, it may be liable under the False Claims Act."); United States ex rel. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 342 v. Dan Caputo Co., 152 F.3d 1060, 1062 (9th Cir.1998) (per curiam) (holding in FCA suit regarding contractors' classification of employees for purposes of the Davis-Bacon Act, that "deferral to the Department [of Labor] was proper only with respect to the resolution of how particular types of work should be classified but not with respect to whether the Contractors misclassified their employees"); Gabelli, 345 F.Supp.2d at 354-57 (concluding that a determination whether the defendants acted with the requisite intent to defraud the government in violation of the FCA did not necessitate technical, agency-specific expertise; there was little danger of inconsistent rulings; and, given additional costs and lengthy delay that would result from referral to the FCC, the administration of justice weighed against application of the primary jurisdiction doctrine).

As these cases reflect, the courts have drawn a dichotomy between a contractor's misrepresentation of wages and its misclassification of workers. This dichotomy is best illustrated in United States ex rel. Windsor v. DynCorp, Inc., 895 F.Supp. 844, 851-52 (E.D.Va.1995), in which the plaintiffs brought a qui tam action against a government contractor, DynCorp, alleging that it violated the FCA when it intentionally misclassified, and consequently underpaid, certain employees. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of DynCorp, holding that "it is impossible to determine whether DynCorp submitted a false claim to the government without first determining whether DynCorp actually misclassified an employee in a given instance," and that under the governing regulations, "the responsibility for resolving such disputes rests not with the courts, but with the [DOL]." Id. at 851 (citing 29 C.F.R. §§ 5.5(a)(9), 5.6(a)(3), 5.6(b), 5.11(a)). However, the court was quick to point out that its ruling did not accord "blanket immunity from FCA liability" to violators of the Davis-Bacon Act:

Id. at 852-53 (citation and footnotes omitted); see also Foundation for Fair Contracting, Ltd., 259 F.Supp.2d at 339-41 (dismissing for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction the plaintiff's FCA qui tam action against a public contractor because the "plaintiff's suit seeks to remedy fraud that the government has already investigated within its full regulatory authority, culminating in a resolution acceptable to the DOL, based on the same set of underlying facts," but further noting that "in an appropriate case, an FCA claim can be predicated upon a Davis-Bacon violation"); G.E. Chen Constr., Inc., 954 F.Supp. at 197 (citing DynCorp and holding that to the extent that the plaintiffs' FCA claims were based on allegations that the defendants misclassified employees, the court lacked jurisdiction to decide those claims, which were within the sole jurisdiction of the DOL; however, the court did have jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs' additional claim that the defendants submitted false statements and prepared false payroll certifications, because those allegations did not depend on any determination of the proper classification of workers, a DOL responsibility).

In addressing plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment in the present case, the district court correctly distinguished DynCorp from the present circumstances, opining that the core dispute here involves misrepresentation, not misclassification:

Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 939.

We agree with the district court that the doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not foreclose plaintiffs' FCA suit alleging Davis-Bacon Act violations where, as here, the government was not aware of the conduct at issue until after Wall filed his complaint, and thus did not deliberately bypass administrative procedures; the determination whether Circle C acted with the requisite intent to defraud the government in violation of the FCA does not necessitate technical, agency specific expertise; and the regulations explicitly provide that the falsification of payroll certifications may subject the contractor to civil prosecution under the FCA. Plaintiffs allege violations of the FCA under a false certification theory; this is not a dispute over how a particular type of work should be classified for purposes of wage determinations. Accordingly, deferral to the DOL was not warranted, and the district court properly declined to refer the case to the DOL pursuant to the primary jurisdiction doctrine.

D.

The Davis-Bacon Act requires that government contractors pay the prevailing wages set by the Secretary of Labor to employees working on government projects, 40 U.S.C. § 3142, with the underlying dual purpose being to "give local laborers and contractors fair opportunity to participate in building programs when federal money is involved and to protect local wage standards by preventing contractors from basing their bids on wages lower than those in the prevailing area." L.P. Cavett Co. v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, 101 F.3d 1111, 1113 (6th Cir.1996). Government contracts must contain stipulations that the contractor or subcontractor shall pay its employees the wage determinations listed in the contract, 40 U.S.C. § 3142(c), and "insert in any subcontracts the clauses contained in 29 C.F.R. § 5.5(a)(1) through (10) [regarding wage determinations and payroll certifications] and such other clauses as the [federal agency] may by appropriate instructions require." 29 C.F.R. § 5.5(a)(6). Laborers "shall be paid not less than the appropriate wage rate and fringe benefits in the wage determination for the classification of work actually performed[.]" 48 C.F.R. § 52.222-6(b)(3); see also 48 C.F.R. § 52.222-6(c)(4).

In addition, contractors and subcontractors must furnish weekly wage payroll certifications pertaining to each employee, and prime contractors are responsible for submitting copies of payrolls by all subcontractors and ensuring compliance by subcontractors. 40 U.S.C. § 3145(a); 29 C.F.R. § 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A), (a)(6); Nat'l Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford v. Fortune Constr. Co., 320 F.3d 1260, 1276-77 (11th Cir. 2003). The payment of federal funds is contingent upon the receipt of the contractors' weekly certifications. 40 U.S.C. § 3142. Pursuant to these regulations, "parties that contract with the government are held to the letter of the contract[.]" United States ex rel. Compton v. Midwest Specialties, Inc., 142 F.3d 296, 302 (6th Cir.1998).

In their amended complaint, plaintiffs alleged that Circle C violated 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(2) (2006), the version of the FCA then in effect.3 Subsection (a)(2) imposes civil liability when a person "knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement to get a false or fraudulent claim paid or approved by the Government." 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(2) (2006). A cause of action brought pursuant to this subsection requires proof of several elements:

SNAPP, 618 F.3d 505, 509 (6th Cir.2010) (citation omitted).

"[N]o proof of specific intent to defraud is required" for an FCA claim. 31 U.S.C. § 3729(b)(3) (2006) [now 31 U.S.C. § 3729(b)(1)(B)]. "[A]n aggravated form of gross negligence (i.e., reckless disregard) will satisfy the scienter requirement for an FCA violation." United States ex rel. Burlbaw v. Orenduff, 548 F.3d 931, 945 n. 12 (10th Cir.2008). For purposes of the FCA, "`a false statement is material if it has a natural tendency to influence, or [is] capable of influencing, the decision of the decisionmaking body to which it was addressed.'" United States ex rel. A + Homecare, Inc. v. Medshares Mgmt. Group, Inc., 400 F.3d 428, 445 (6th Cir. 2005) (quoting Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 16, 119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999)).

Circle C argues that the district court erred in holding that plaintiffs sufficiently demonstrated the essential elements of an FCA claim — falsity, knowledge, and materiality — and that there was no dispute of material fact with regard to these elements. We disagree.

A false statement can be shown to have been made by an express false certification, or through the so-called "implied certification" theory, which "holds a defendant liable for violating the `continuing duty to comply with the regulations on which payment is conditioned.'" A + Homecare, 400 F.3d at 454 n. 20 (quoting United States ex rel. Augustine v. Century Health Servs., Inc., 289 F.3d 409, 415 (6th Cir.2002)). Here, liability is established by the express false certifications that were made.

Circle C's contract explicitly incorporated the Davis-Bacon requirements and included an hourly wage determination for electrical workers, setting a base hourly rate of $19.19, plus $3.94 in fringe benefits. Circle C, as a frequent contractor with the government, admitted its familiarity with these requirements and acknowledged that Frances Cates and Dorothy Tyndall attended a training session conducted by the Fort Campbell Contracting Office regarding Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements. Circle C conceded that it should submit payroll certifications for all employees on the project, but did not include Phase Tech employees on the original certifications, although it did submit separate payroll certifications for the other subcontractors. Circle C acknowledged that it never paid or supervised the payment of any Phase Tech employees and had no first-hand knowledge regarding Phase Tech's payments to its employees. It was only in 2006 that Circle C finally informed Phase Tech of the need to submit payroll certifications to Fort Campbell. Once the records were provided by Phase Tech, Circle C never verified their accuracy. In fact, as established in Edison Gunter's (Special Agent with the DOL) Declaration, with attached exhibits and charts showing all of Circle C's pertinent payroll certifications, there were 62 inaccurate submissions, 53 of which pertained to 2004 and 2005 and failed to list any Phase Tech workers. The 62 certifications also were false because they wrongly certified that the prevailing wages were paid.

Based upon this evidence, the district court did not err in finding that Circle C's original and 2008 payroll certifications at issue were expressly false because (1) they stated that they were complete, when in fact no Phase Tech employees who worked on the project were listed, and (2) the certifications wrongly represented that the prevailing wages were paid to its subcontracted employees. Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 939. See United States ex rel. Kirk v. Schindler Elevator Corp., 601 F.3d 94, 116 (2d Cir.2010), rev'd on other grounds, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 1885, 179 L.Ed.2d 825 (2011) (holding that the relator stated an FCA claim where the contractor "filed false ... reports, necessarily knowing that they were false because [it] in fact had no mechanism in place to identify covered [individuals]. It did so in order to procure contracts and obtain payment under existing contracts, as it could do neither without filing the reports.").

As plaintiffs argue, Circle C's reliance upon United States v. Southland Mgmt. Corp., 326 F.3d 669 (5th Cir.2003) (en banc) is misplaced. In Southland, the court held that the owners of an apartment complex did not make "false claims" under the FCA in their housing assistance payment vouchers attesting to safe and sanitary housing conditions, because the vouchers were submitted to HUD during a corrective action period following HUD's notification of safety deficiencies, and the owners were contractually entitled to the money until they failed to take corrective action following notification. Id. at 676-77. In the present case, there are no similar contract provisions, and the DOL was not aware of potential FCA violations until after Wall filed his complaint.

Circle C also argues that nine false payroll certifications submitted in December 2008 were not properly before the district court because the amended complaint was filed only two months beforehand, and the allegations in the complaint as to these certifications were not pled with particularity. This argument was originally advanced in Circle C's motion to dismiss the amended complaint, and thus is foreclosed due to the untimely filing of that motion.

For the reasons stated by the district court, the totality of the circumstances show that Circle C, an experienced contractor, made false statements, acted in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the information, and that the false statements were "material" to the government's decision to make the payment sought in Circle C's claim. Thus, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs on their FCA claim.

E.

With regard to plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claim, Circle C contends for the first time on appeal that summary judgment was improperly granted because "the receipt of gain is not unjust enrichment to the extent that it is generated by someone's rightful contribution of effort, capital or skill." See Circle C's Brief at 47 (quoting State of Tennessee v. Dole, 749 F.2d 331, 337 (6th Cir.1984)). However, this specific argument was not raised in the district court and therefore is not properly before this court. Smith v. County of Lenawee, 600 F.3d 686, 690 n. 3 (6th Cir. 2010).

IV.

Finally, Circle C appeals the treble damages award of $1,661,423.13, based upon a finding of actual damages in the amount of $553,807.71.

Circle C argues that the district court's determination that plaintiffs sustained $553,807.71 in actual damages is based upon the speculative testimony of Jeanne Shykes that for delivery orders 6 through 12, 14, and 15, the government paid Circle C $3,767,399.41, and that of this total award amount, approximately fifteen percent — or $565,109.91 — was for electrical work; and assuming that Phase Tech did 98% of the electrical work on the contract, it would amount to a total of $553,807.71 in Fort Campbell funds that were affected. According to Circle C, counsel for the government knew from discovery that the actual figure paid to Phase Tech for work on the above orders was $124,901.81.

Moreover, Circle C emphasizes that only seven of the nine delivery orders involved buildings erected in Kentucky; the other two deliveries were performed in Tennessee. Because the amended complaint only alleged the failure to pay the prevailing wage for an electrician for work performed in Kentucky, two of the delivery orders should not have been included in any calculation of payments made to Phase Tech for work performed by misclassified employees.

Finally, Circle C asserts that it is speculative to assume, as Shykes did in her Declaration, that if the government had investigated the Wall and McPherson misclassification claims, which it did not do at any time during the construction project, it would have withheld $553,807.71 from Circle C and that Circle C then would have continued with the construction project. According to Circle C, a timely investigation would have resolved the dispute and determined if, in fact, McPherson and Wall had been paid the prevailing wage, and, if not, it would have resulted in payment of that wage to them. We agree with Circle C that there are deficiencies in the district court's calculation of damages that require a remand for recalculation of those damages in this instance.

The FCA provides that violators are subject to a civil penalty of between $5,000 and $10,000, plus three times the government's actual damages. 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a). "Under the False Claims Act, the government may recover `actual damages,' the difference between what it paid and what it should have paid for the goods." United Tech. Corp., 626 F.3d at 321 (citations omitted). "Damages awarded under the [FCA] typically are liberally calculated to ensure that they afford the government complete indemnity for the injuries done it." Compton 142 F.3d at 304 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). "[T]he government is entitled to full damages where it proves it received no value at all." Id. (citation omitted).

The damages award of $1,661,423.13 (trebled from actual damages of $553,807.71) rendered by the district court and later confirmed in its Order denying Circle C's motion to alter or amend judgment is based upon the Declaration of Jeanne Shykes, Supervisory Contract Specialist at the Directorate of Contracting at the Fort Campbell Army Post. In that capacity, she administered construction and service contracts awarded by her office. In her Declaration, she stated:

Shykes further explained in her Declaration that the Contracting Office did not suspect that inaccurate or false payrolls had been submitted at the time of performance, and if it had known at the time that Circle C was not properly reporting its payrolls, it would not have paid Circle C for the electrical portion of the work on the relevant delivery orders until the issue was resolved, i.e., it would not have paid $553,807.71 to Circle C. Based on her Declaration, the district court held that "the undisputed fact is that the Army paid [$553,807.71] that would not have been paid if the United States had known about Circle C's false certifications." Wall, 700 F.Supp.2d at 940.

However, in its response to interrogatories, Circle C stated that it paid Phase Tech the following amounts on the delivery orders relevant to this case:

These payments add up to a total of $111,573.81,4 which obviously would have been higher if Circle C and its subcontractor had paid the proper Davis-Bacon Act wages. In other words, Circle C made higher profits by accepting full payment from the government for paying Davis-Bacon Act wages, when it was not in fact paying, either directly or indirectly through the subcontractor, the requisite wages.

Following our review, we conclude that Shykes' estimation, which is lacking in detail, does not adequately account for the discrepancy in the relevant sums presented by the parties or accurately represent the difference between what the government actually paid to Circle C and the payments to which Circle C would have been entitled in the absence of its fraud. Indeed, it is impossible to discern precisely how Shykes arrived at her total, without further data. Moreover, as Circle C argues, Shykes' estimation includes two projects that were not performed in Kentucky and therefore, consistent with the pleadings in the amended complaint, should not have been included in the calculation of payments made to Phase Tech for work performed by the misclassified employees. For these reasons, we reverse the district court's damages award and remand for a recalculation of damages.

V.

In summary, we affirm the district court's judgment with regard to liability, but reverse the award of damages and remand for a recalculation of the damages and further proceedings.