USAO, Middle District of Tennessee - Press Release

Summary

On September 1, 2015, Civil Constructors, LLC, of Franklin, Tennessee, entered into a civil settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice as a result of a DOT-OIG investigation wherein the corporation's predecessor entity, Civil Constructors, Inc. (CCI), was found to have submitted false claims for work performed under the U.S. DOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program.

Our investigation determined that CCI falsely certified it had completed the DBE work on the federally-funded South Water Avenue project in Gallatin, Tennessee, knowing that the work was actually performed by a non-DBE contractor. The investigation further substantiated that CCI knowingly submitted false payroll certifications, using the DBE as a "pass through," for the project that included work that was not performed by the DBE.

In the final Settlement Agreement, CCI accepted responsibility for the predecessor's conduct and agreed to pay the U.S. Government $400,000 to resolve the false claims.