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RICHLAND, Washington – A former Hanford contractor has agreed to pay around $ 3 million to settle allegations of fraud in reporting to the federal government on his small business subcontracts.
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. was reimbursed by the federal government for the costs of environmental clean-up at the country’s most contaminated nuclear site near Richland, Washington. The company was also eligible for incentive compensation for awarding subcontracts to small businesses designated by the Small Business Administration as being in historically underutilized areas of activity.
CH2M’s small business outsourcing investigation is the result of a 2014 lawsuit filed by Savage Logistics, a small Richland company now called Apogee Logistics, and owner Salina Savage.
The latest complaint in the lawsuit alleged that CH2M knew that two of its subcontractors were not HUBZone companies when it awarded them contracts, but falsely reported to the Department of Energy that they were.
Jacobs Engineering, which purchased CH2M, including its Hanford contract in 2017, declined to comment, the Tri-City Herald reported.
He did not acknowledge his responsibility, according to the settlement agreement signed on Thursday. The deal was made in order to avoid the delays, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of a protracted litigation, according to the settlement agreement.
Savage and his company will receive nearly $ 866,000 from the settlement under the Federal False Claims Act, which rewards whistleblowers with a portion of the recovered money. CH2M is also required to pay Savage and his company approximately $ 1.3 million in legal fees.
About half of the $ 3 million settlement is intended to reimburse costs to the federal government.
CH2M was the environmental clean-up contractor of Hanford nuclear reserves for projects including demolition of the plutonium finishing plant and groundwater clean-up for approximately 12 years until its contract expires this year. It employed around 1,700 workers.
In its latest annual review, CH2M earned $ 17.2 million in incentive compensation.
About two-thirds of the plutonium from WWII to the Cold War for the nations nuclear weapons program was produced at Hanford.
Taxpayers spend about $ 2.5 billion per year on the environmental clean-up of the 586 square mile (1,518 square kilometers) site.
2021 Cox Media Group
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