Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance, the former landlord services contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, settled a fraud lawsuit, reportedly for $6-million, in a case brought two years ago by the Department of Justice.
“I can confirm that this case has been settled,” Bob Miller, a spokesman for the Leidos-Centerra joint venture, told Weapons Complex Monitor Wednesday in an email.
Much of the federal fraud case revolved around having one of Mission Support Alliance’s (MSA) former owners, Lockheed Martin, serve as the team’s lead while issuing a significant subcontract to another Lockheed, Lockheed Martin Services for computer and technical expertise. Leidos bought out Lockheed’s share of MSA in 2016.
“We maintain that no wrongdoing occurred related to this matter and are pleased with its resolution on what we view as favorable terms that avoid the cost of further litigation,” Miller said. “We stand behind our team who performed extraordinary work in support of the Hanford Mission.” The spokesman declined to say when the settlement was reached or provide additional details. The Department of Justice did not reply to a request for comment.
Court documents said Lockheed Martin Services inflated cost estimates to MSA, and that the Lockheed subsidiary and MSA both billed the U.S. Department of Energy for the same work.
The local Tri-City Herald reported the settlement Tuesday. In the 2019 case, Justice alleged fraud through false claims and kickbacks between 2010 to 2015. At that time, MSA was led by Lockheed Martin Services, which was also named as a defendant as was former Lockheed and MSA executive, Jorge “Frank” Armijo.
As of early Friday morning, no paperwork acknowledging a settlement was posted online by the U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, where the litigation was filed in February 2019.
The Herald reported that the feds still owe MSA $37 million in withheld profits despite the company paying the $6 million settlement.
In late January, Mission Support Alliance completed its roughly $4-billion site services contract, which includes upkeep of buildings, roads and management of the Hammer Training Center among other tasks, and turned the work over to another Leidos-led venture, Hanford Mission Integration Solution.
