Before unsealing their case in January, federal prosecutors had for two years investigated whistleblower claims that the landlord contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state fraudulently inflated its labor bills while leaving key fire systems tests undone.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian, appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, granted a motion by the U.S. Department of Justice Jan. 18 to unseal the lawsuit.
According to online records, there have already been more than 20 filings in the case, mostly sealed, since 2021 with virtually all of them by attorneys on behalf of either the whistleblower or the government.
Last week the office of Vanessa Waldref, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington filed its own complaint against Department of Energy contractorHanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), a joint venture of Leidos, Centerra and Parsons.
According to court filings, Bradley Keever, a fire systems maintenance employee at Hanford, initiated a whistleblower case under the False Claims Act on Dec. 15, 2021, against both HMIS and the former Leidos-led landlord contractor, Mission Support Alliance. HMIS was awarded the decade-long contract for about $4 billion to essentially act as city manager of the nuclear cleanup property in December 2019 and took over the work in 2020.
In addition to working with the Seattle-based advocacy group Hanford Challenge, Keever is represented by the Smith & Lowney law firm. In addition to Hanford Challenge, Smith & Lowney has represented many other environmental and labor organizations including the Sierra Club and Local Union 598 of Plumbers and Pipefitters.
“HMIS not only fraudulently charged DOE for tens of thousands of hours … but just as critically did not perform vital fire protection work” to protect thousands of Hanford workers and the public, according to the government’s complaint. Attorneys for the contractor have yet to file an answer.
