Dive Brief:

• AECOM has agreed to pay $11.8 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the replacement of educational facilities in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to an Oct. 24 Department of Justice news release.
• The DOJ alleged the Dallas-based firm violated the False Claims Act in its role as a technical assistance contractor supporting FEMA’s disaster recovery efforts between 2007 and 2013. FEMA paid AECOM more than $300 million to help institutions prepare estimates of the damage Katrina caused in order to qualify for federal public assistance grants.
• The DOJ alleged in a 2016 lawsuit that AECOM systematically used inflated repair estimates and other false information to get FEMA to pay out more money than claimants were entitled to. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability, according to the DOJ release.

Dive Insight:

The settlement resolves claims that former AECOM project manager Robert Romero brought in the 2016 lawsuit under the False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions, which permit private parties to file suit on behalf of the U.S. and share in a portion of the government’s recovery. AECOM did not immediately respond to Construction Dive’s request for comment.

An AECOM project officer deployed to Louisiana allegedly misrepresented several New Orleans educational facilities’ repair versus...

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