Bechtel和Aecom Energy and Constructon Inc.现在以Amentum的身份运营，已同意向联邦政府支付5780万美元，以解决一项举报人虚假索赔法案诉讼，指控该公司意识到美国能源部门向美国的能源部门汇票。在华盛顿州东南部的汉福德核清理现场建造了数十亿美元的放射性废物处理厂的十年。

The original lawsuit, brought in 2017 by four whistleblowers who at the time were current or former contractor employees, claims that from 2009 to 2019 the firms inflated work hours for hundreds of electricians, millwrights, pipefitters and other craft workers in labor charges billed to DOE. The U.S.Justice Dept. joined the lawsuit in February 2020.

作为成本加奖励合同的一部分，如果在工作中，手工艺人员的闲置时间被支付了一定的闲置时间，但该诉讼辩称，贝克特尔和AECOM虚假账单是通过允许“不允许和不允许的闲置时间”以及通过not properly managing workers’ time or assigning sufficient work.

The估计有170亿美元的玻璃化工厂，a multi-structure complex under construction for nearly two decades, is intended to treat for disposal millions of of gallons of nuclear and hazardous wastes stored at Hanford, a former weapons production site dating to World War II. Testing of its first facility is set to start next year, with operation to begin in 2023.

DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson said the billing of "tens of millions of dollars of false claims” continued even after agency officials notified the defendants that the costs were unallowable.

Bechtel and the former AECOM unit do not admit to the wrongdoing but will pay $13.75 million to the four whistleblowers and $25.79 million to the U.S. government for DOE use at Hanford. The subsidiary was spun off in January to private equity investors for $2.4 billion and rebranded as Amentum.

除了欺诈指控外，每个举报人还起诉其各自的承包商雇主举报人的报复。这些主张得到了解决，但在其律师的联合声明中没有透露细节。

该和解还要求Bechtel和Amentum支付对该项目进行三年劳动收费的独立监控费用，监视器直接向DOE报告。如果公司违反了监视协议的条款，这些公司将面临1000万美元的罚款。

“As a company, we felt it was in the best interest of the project and our customer to resolve this matter so that we can avoid the distractions and expenses of a protracted legal proceeding, move beyond these issues and fully focus on completing our work at such a critical time" for the project, said Barbara Rusinko, president of Bechtel’s nuclear and environmental global business unit.

Amentum发言人基思·伍德（Keith Wood）表示，该公司“坚定地否认任何不法行为，并达成了该决议，以避免诉讼的成本和分散注意力。这项和解将使我们能够专注于为环境清理工作的重要使命，以便在能源部在能源部的重要任务汉福德网站。”