A qui tam relator brought a False Claims Act action alleging that government contractors had submitted fraudulent claims, and the United States declined to intervene. The district court dismissed the action as untimely under the Act’s statute of limitations. The Eleventh Circuit reversed. It held that the limitations period allowing suit within three years after the responsible federal official knew or should have known the material facts applies to a non-intervened qui tam action as well as to an action in which the United States participates. The relevant knowledge is that of the government official charged with responsibility to act, not the relator. Because the complaint alleged that the responsible official learned of the fraud within three years before suit, untimeliness was not apparent on the face of the pleading. The court reversed the dismissal and remanded for further proceedings, while leaving open whether discovery might later establish an earlier date of government knowledge.