(a) Subject to the eligibility requirements described in this part, the Commission will pay an award to one or more whistleblowers who:

(1) Provide a voluntary submission to the Commission;

(2) That contains original information; and

(3) That leads to the successful resolution of a covered judicial or administrative action or successful enforcement of a Related Action or both; and

(b) In order to be eligible, the whistleblower must:

(1) Have voluntarily provided the Commission original information in the form and manner that the Commission requires in §165.3;

(2) Have submitted a claim in response to a Notice of Covered Action or a final judgment in a Related Action or both;

(3) Provide the Commission, upon its staff's request, certain additional information, including:

(i) Explanations and other assistance, in the manner and form that staff may request, in order that the staff may evaluate the use of the information submitted related to the whistleblower's application for an award;

(ii) All additional information in the whistleblower's possession that is related to the subject matter of the whistleblower's submission related to the whistleblower's application for an award; and

(iii) Testimony or other evidence acceptable to the staff relating to the whistleblower's eligibility for an award; and

(4) If requested by the Whistleblower Office, enter into a confidentiality agreement in a form acceptable to the Whistleblower Office, including a provision that a violation of the confidentiality agreement may lead to the whistleblower's ineligibility to receive an award.

(c) The Commission may, in its sole discretion, waive any procedural requirements based upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances.

[82 FR 24498, May 30, 2017]