U.S. Attorney Reaches Settlement for False Claims Act Violations on Project Management Oversight Contract

October 10, 2017 |  Investigations Press Release

Louis D. Lappen, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced today that the United States had reached a civil settlement with URS Corporation (“URS”) resolving civil claims concerning URS’ improperly billing under a Joint Venture Project Management Oversight Agreement (“PMO”) with Amtrak. To resolve the government’s civil claims against it, URS has agreed to pay the United States $900,000.00 pursuant to the settlement agreement.

URS and its joint venture partner performed project management functions on several Amtrak construction projects throughout the eastern United States. The PMO contract required that URS bill actual labor and overhead rates for the employees working the various projects. The United States contends that it has certain civil claims against URS arising from URS’ billing under the PMO contract during the period January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2014. This conduct included: a) continuing to bill overhead at a maximum rate listed in the Joint Venture PMO Contract without adjusting the overhead rate to actual costs incurred; and b) billing employees at home overhead rates although they were considered as field employees’ in URS’ general ledger.

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