A Vermont construction contractor has agreed to pay $637,500 to settle federal False Claims Act charges regarding its work on bridge construction projects in that state, the U.S. Dept. of Justice says.
Under the settlement, which DOJ announced on Nov. 29, J.A. McDonald Inc., based in Lyndon Center, Vt., also agreed to several corporate actions, including establishing an ethics code and bringing on board an independent monitor of its federal-aid highway work.
DOJ alleged that between 2008 and 2010, J.A. McDonald (JAM) cut or burned multiple sections of reinforcing steel out of the reinforced-concrete substructures for several bridges.
The department also alleged that workers for the contractor “took affirmative steps” to conceal the changes from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
DOJ said the state of Vermont claimed that as a result, the state transportation agency “unwittingly paid JAM for deficient bridge work,” and JAM made false claims to the Federal Highway Administration, for which the state agency was to be reimbursed as part of the federal share of payments to JAM.
The projects were bridges on Route 279 in Bennington and on Interstate-91 in Guilford, according to DOJ.
DOJ noted that the claims are only allegations and that there has been no court determination of liability.
In the settlement, besides the payments to the federal government and Vermont, JAM also agreed to adopt an ethics code and train all of its employees on that code.
The contractor also agreed...
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