Four contractors have agreed to pay $125 million to resolve allegations over mischarging the Department of Energy for deficient nuclear quality materials, services and testing at a waste treatment plant (WTP).
The lawsuit — filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provision of the False Claims Act by Gary Brunson, Donna Busche and Walter Tamosaitis, who worked on the WTP project – also alleged that defendants had improperly applied contract funds for a multiyear lobbying campaign to secure additional funding at the WTP.
The defendants — Bechtel National Inc., Bechtel Corp., URS Corp. (predecessor in interest to AECOM Global II LLC), and URS Energy and Construction Inc. (now known as AECOM Energy and Construction Inc.) — were paid billions of dollars between 2002 and present for the purpose of designing and building the WTP at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site near Richland, Washington.
The settlement comes after the U.S. alleged that the defendants violated the False Claims Act by charging the government the cost of complying with standards required to treat dangerous radioactive waste when they failed to do so. In addition, Bechtel National Inc. and Bechtel Corp. allegedly violated the Byrd Amendment and applicable contract and regulatory requirements by improperly claiming and receiving government funding then used for prohibited lobbying activities.
The False Claims Act permitted private parties to sue on behalf of the United States and for the government to intervene in the lawsuit. The case was handled by the Justice Department's Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington, the Energy Department's Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
Under the False Claims Act, the whistleblowers are entitled to a share of any recovery, but their reward has not yet been determined.
