Rocky Hill Construction Company Settles Federal Overbilling Claim

A Rocky Hill construction company has agreed to settle a federal civil suit in which the firm was accused of overbilling the federal government on a bridge reconstruction project in Niantic that was funded by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak).

Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced on Wednesday that URS Corporation AES (URS) will pay $580,000 to resolve allegations that the company violated the federal False Claims Act.

In 2007, Amtrak awarded a contract to Washington Group, International, Inc. (“WGI”) to provide construction management services for the replacement of the Niantic River rail bridge. WGI was acquired by URS in 2008, and URS assumed responsibility for the contract.

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The contract provided that the construction management company would be compensated for its services according to a specific pricing schedule that was incorporated into the contract. The pricing schedule stated that labor efforts pursuant to the contract would be paid at the fixed labor rates listed in an attachment to the pricing schedule. The attachment, in turn, provided that the labor rates were maximum rates per hour for each employee work classification and that the contractor should bill the appropriate rate for each employee up to the maximum rate contained in the attachment.

The federal government claimed that in most instances when URS provided construction management services for the bridge project, the company charged the maximum labor rates, rather than the actual labor rates, for the employee positions listed on the attachment to the pricing schedule and, as a result, that the federal government was overbilled.

In a statement, Amtrak Inspector General Tom Howard said, “This was a significant civil recovery for Amtrak, and one that sends an important message for contractors regarding their obligation to properly bill for services.”