Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff, the management consultants to the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the so-called “Big Dig” project, a massive $14.6 billion reconstruction of downtown Boston’s roadways, tunnels, and bridges, agreed to pay over $407 million to resolve their civil and criminal liabilities to the government in connection with the “Big Dig.” This included liability stemming from their failure to institute concrete testing protocols at the construction site as well as in the materials lab to determine that all concrete delivered to the Big Dig by Aggregate Industries, Inc. met specifications and was placed pursuant to procedures
In his whistleblower suit, the relator (who worked on the Big Dig project) alleged, among other things, that defendants Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff failed to properly oversee the construction and as a result false or fraudulent claims for payment of out –of-specification or non-conforming concrete supplied by defendant Aggregate Industries were submitted to the government and paid.
Relator’s claims (and those of other whistleblowers) were resolved as part of this $407 million settlement (and the related $50 million settlement with Aggregate).