The Hanford Nuclear reservation in south central Washington State was used by the U.S. government to manufacture nuclear weapons from the Fifties through the Eighties. They left behind over a hundred tanks filled with toxic and radioactive materials that are leaking into the soil and scattered radioactive buildings. The Department of Energy is supposed to be cleaning up the mess, but they have been repeatedly sued by Washington State for endangering workers and failing to meet agreed upon schedules for phases of the cleanup plan. Now the DoE is suing a major contractor hired to carry out the cleanup.
The Madison Support Alliance (MSA) has a ten year three billion dollar contract signed in 2010 with the DoE to decontaminate the Hanford Reservation. Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC) and Lockheed Martin Services Inc. (LMSI) were subcontractors hired to help at Hanford by MSA which is co-owned by another Lockheed Martin subsidiary.
MSA’s contract with the DoE was to provide management and technology services to the Department and other contractors involved in the massive cleanup project across the Hanford site. MSA says that it provides emergency response and training. It also provides environmental and land management, water and electrical utilities, cybersecurity and information management.
The U.S. Department of Justice claimed this week in court in the Eastern District of Washington that MSA abused its authority to hire subcontractors by awarding “improper favorable treatment” to some for kickbacks. The DoJ lawsuit alleges that LMC and LMSI executives received a million dollars from LMC and LMSI in violation of the Anti-Kickback Act to award a two hundred and thirty two million dollar contract for work at Hanford. LMC and LMSI then inflated the rates for the work they were subcontracted to do. In some cases, the two each billed MSA for the same work.
Jorge Francisco Armijo served as both the Vice President of LMC and the President of MSA. He was charge in the DoJ suit with abusing his authority for financial gain by holding posts in both companies at once. The DoJ suit said that Armijo “knowingly made or caused false statements to the DOE regarding the amount of profit included in the billing rates for LMSI under the subcontract it was awarded by its affiliate, MSA.” The DoJ also claims that the inflated rates violated the False Claims Act.
Jody Hunt is Assistant Attorney at the DoJ Civil Division. She said, “Where Congress has allocated money for specific purposes, we will not tolerate unlawful conduct by contractors who seek to enhance their profits at the expense of taxpayers.”
Joseph Harrington is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. He said, “The critical mission of cleaning up the Hanford Site in a safe, timely, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner is too important to the public and the residents of this region. …fraudsters (will be held) accountable, whether they are individuals, businesses, or the nation’s largest corporations.”
Lockheed immediately denied the allegations. They rejected any notion that the “corporation or its executives engaged in any wrongdoing.” MSA also denied the charges and went on to say that “We look forward to presenting a strong defense in this matter, and as always, we stand behind our team of incredible employees to perform extraordinary work supporting the Hanford mission. Ethical business conduct is a hallmark of MSA and we are committed to integrity and compliance throughout all levels of the company.”