Hanford Contractor Under Fraud Investigation Agrees To Settlement

A longtime contractor at the Hanford Site has come to an agreement with the Federal Government over allegations that the company was fraudulently billing the Department of Energy(DOE).  The investigation into Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) began two and a half years ago after a whistleblower came forward.

The whistleblower alleged that WRPS' management knew that more hours worked were being reported to DOE than actually were being worked.  It included hours that WRPS employees were not scheduled to work or were give enough work to fill that time.  All of those dollars paid out were federal tax dollars.

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Where things really got ugly was when allegations of WRPS directing employees to fraudulently fill out and submit time cards were leveled.  Those actions run afoul of the False Claims Act.  Unfortunately, this is the first time Washington River Protection Solutions has found themselves in violation of the False Claims Act

WRPS Admitted To Fraud Nearly A Decade Ago

In 2017 WRPS agreed to pay $5.275 million to settle claims that they knowingly submitted false claims to DOE between October 2008 and July 2013. They admitted to not following their own internal audit processes and submitting false timecards with regard to overtime hours and premium pay.

This time around, WRPS will pay $6.5 million to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle similar claims.  As part of the deal, WRPS admits between October 1, 2017, and December 31, 2024, they submitted and received reimbursement from DOE for labor hours made up of unallowable excessive idle time.  They received $3 million taxpayer dollars in wages from DOE.

The company will pay more than double back to the federal government for defrauding American taxpayers.

Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker commended the whistleblower for their actions.

This individual came forward with serious and credible allegations of fraud that were then investigated for years.  We are able to uncover fraud and hold fraudsters accountable only when good people come forward and report it to law enforcement

This Is The Second Bit of Bad News For WRPS

Late last year (October of 2024) Hanford Tank Waste Operations (H2C) was awarded the tank farm cleanup contract by DOE.  A four month transition period began and on February 23rd of this year, H2C officially took over ending WRPS' 17 year run at the Hanford Site.