Suit Against Energy & Process Corporation Alleging Use of Defective Steel Rebar and Quality Control
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/government-intervenes-suit-against-energy-process-corporation-alleging-use-defective
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorneys Office
Northern District of Georgia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 23, 2016
Government Intervenes in Suit Against Energy & Process Corporation Alleging Use of Defective Steel Rebar and Quality Control Failures in Connection with Construction of Nuclear Processing Facility
ATLANTA The government has intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit against Energy & Process Corporation (E&P), of Tucker, Georgia, alleging that E&P knowingly failed to perform required quality assurance procedures and supplied defective steel reinforcing bars (rebar) in connection with a contract to construct a Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear processing facility, the Justice Department announced today.
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The lawsuit alleges that, although the DOE in connection with the construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the DOEs Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina paid E&P a premium to supply rebar meeting the stringent quality assurance standards promulgated by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), E&P failed to perform most of the necessary quality assurance work, and then concealed this failing by falsely certifying that the quality assurance requirements had been met. As a result, one-third of the rebar supplied by E&P and used in the construction was found to be defective.
The lawsuit was filed by Deborah Cook, a former employee of the prime contractor building the DOE facility, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery. The act permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in this case. Defendants found liable under the act are subject to treble damages and penalties.
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