HANNFORD, Wash. — Accusations that staff slept in frames and even watched movies. That’s what one whistleblower says he’s noticed from hired staff at the Hanford site. The Justice Department is now investigating. Action News spoke with the U. S. Attorney’s Office, as well as attorneys representing the whistleblower, on Thursday, Jan. 25.
A formal complaint has been filed through the U. S. Attorney’s Office. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has filed a lawsuit alleging millions of dollars in fraudulent overbilling against linked members of Hanford Mission Integration Solutions or HMIS chimney coverage personnel, a critical role in the Hanford site. Vanessa R Waldref, U. S. Attorney U. S. Representative of the U. S. District for the Eastern District of Washington, said, “The work we’re doing in this complaint, and the reason it’s so important to make sure this work is done correctly, is because it’s so important to our environment. “
The complaint alleges personnel experienced unreasonable idle time on a daily or near daily basis.
“This money invested through taxpayers, through our community, is not used, as detailed in the allegations of the complaint, for the paintings for which it is intended. Instead, we have Americans sleeping in front of paintings, watching TV in the office. ” Waldref said.
The complaint alleges that HMIS supervisors were fully aware of their staff’s long working hours, but instead of taking action to address them, they actively encouraged staff to fraudulently bill downtime hours to HMIS contract-related labor codes, thereby transferring costs as “paints performed or training. “
In an example given by the US Attorney’s Office, the complaint alleges when a Fire Systems Manager wanted to know how to charge a day in which a worker hadn’t worked a full ten-hour day, the manager responded, “[I]f they DID NOT have a job assignment for the day – that means you are on standby and would use the 600318.” The complaint details 600318 as the cost code associated with training.
KEPR News also spoke with the attorneys representing the whistleblower in this case, who told us that the employee had been hired on-site since 2009, after attempting to go through the correct HMIS channels. Unsuccessfully, he sought the assistance of a lawyer.
Richard Condit, partner at Mehri
“The False Claims Act provides a mechanism for Americans to come forward and raise significant issues similar to fraud involving government contracts and resources. Mr. Keever, in this case, that’s precisely what Brad Keever has done and presented his data to the government. “, the government conducted an investigation that lasted almost a year. Mr. Keever is a chimney maintenance worker, has qualifications, is a long-time Hanford worker, and knows the importance of chimney suppression. When things didn’t happen, how should they, when it came to inspecting, testing and maintaining the “Fire” firefighting formula, he tried to go through the channels, he tried to get them to do things differently. Finally, after many attempts, you nevertheless looked for other tactics to deal with it. “
The U. S. Attorney’s Office says it has encountered fraudulent conditions like this on the site in subsequent years and tells us it is vigilant. Waldref commented, “When there are issues that point to and support those court cases and allegations that we’ve alleged here, it’s really critical that we make our effort to bring those instances to bring attention to the factor and that’s what our money is used for. properly used precisely for what they are intended for.
Condit says firefighting is one of the most important pieces of protective equipment in the Department of Energy’s toolbox and this work should not be taken lightly.
“An uncontrolled fire in the wrong part of the facility can result in the release of very, very dangerous and hazardous materials into the air and to the surrounding community,” Condit explained. “Fire suppression and fire maintenance of systems has to be done, and has to be done according to national standards and Department of Energy standards. Essentially, that’s not what what was happening.”
As for the next step, the U. S. Attorney’s Office said HMIS would respond to the complaint, but that it would be made public.
However, in a statement to Action News on Thursday, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions said, “HMIS is cooperating with the Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General, and the Department of Energy on this issue. We are committed to solving and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement to build our effectiveness as a DOE contractor. HMIS is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethics and integrity in everything we do.
You can read more about the Justice Department’s investigation and even read the full text here.