Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85927
InCourt by Brian Morrow A Big Hole I Digging A false or misleading statement may happen honestly n a recent case regarding the supply of in- adequate concrete to Boston's "Big Dig," a federal court of appeals affirmed the criminal convictions of two principals of a concrete contractor for knowingly making false claims to the government. False claims against the government are a serious offense and can carry civil (monetary) and criminal penalties. Contractors who do business with the gov- ernment need to take care to avoid submitting false information. The federal government and most states have passed False Claims Acts that prohibit fraud in contracting and carry stiff penalties. In order to be criminally liable, an individual must know their claims were false at the time they were made. It has been held that a claim or statement may be false even though it contains no untrue information or entries if, within the totality of the circumstances, the claim is not valid. In United States v. Prosperi (July 13, 2012), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the criminal convictions of two principals of Aggregate Industries NE, Inc. (Aggregate) for knowingly pro- viding non–conforming concrete to the Big Dig. The Big Dig, a central artery/tunnel project in 17a August 2012 Better Roads downtown Boston, lasted from 1991 to 2007. It is one of the largest and most expensive public works projects in the history of the United States. At the time of its completion, it cost an estimated $14.6 billion. The Big Dig was managed by a joint venture be- tween Bechtel Infrastructure and Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade & Douglas (B/PB). These companies acted as design consultants and managed the construction, which was performed by multiple major general con- tractors and various subcontractors. Overall, approxi- mately 150 construction contracts were awarded in connection with the Big Dig. The Big Dig required approximately 4.2 million cu- bic yards of concrete. Aggregate supplied 60 percent of the concrete for project. The Big Dig's concrete suppliers were required to: (1) adhere to a certain mix design, or recipe, for the concrete, based on the intended use; (2) have plants with an automatic batch- ing system that ensured the proper mixture of each load, or batch, of concrete; (3) have in place recorders that captured information regarding the mix design, as well as the date and time of batching for each load of concrete, and provide a printout, called a "batch ticket," containing all the required information; (4) not add any additional water after the concrete mixture Better Roads February 2012 17