Bechtel National Earns ‘Good’ Ratings for WTP Work in Second Half of 2014
WC Monitor
4/24/2015
Bechtel National received ratings of “good” for its work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in the second half of 2014, according to an award fee scorecard the Department of Energy issued late last week. The scorecard provides a more detailed look at how DOE assessed BNI’s work during the second half of last year, for which the contractor earned 65 percent of the award fee available for the six-month period, or $4.095 million out of an available $6.3 million. BNI received the “good” ratings in the areas of project management and cost performance.
Within the area of project management, BNI did the best in the objective of self-analysis and discovery of issues, for which the contractor received 87 percent of the available fee, or $1,096,200 out of an available $1.26 million. “There was a significant improvement in transparency in virtually all areas, which provided ORP a better understanding of emerging issues and input into BNI issue resolution. Issues self-identification continued through project issues evaluation reporting (PIER), resulting in quicker issue resolution. Eighty-three percent of issues were self-identified,” the scorecard says. It also notes, though, “Engagement with ORP during the self-assessment process is not maturing as fast as expected.”
DOE gave BNI 75 percent of the available fee tied to environmental, safety and health, or $945,000 out of an available $1.26 million; but only 50 percent of the fee tied to quality assurance, or $630,000 out of an available $1.26 million. “Safety performance continues to be very good for a project of this size and complexity,” the scorecard says. BNI received 66 percent of the available fee tied to project leadership and management, or $831,600 out of $1.26 million; but only 47 percent of the fee tied to technical issue resolution, or $592,200 out of $1.26 million. “BNI initiated timely organization and commencement of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) conceptual design effort, which is proceeding as planned despite resource constraints,” the scorecard notes.
In a message to employees, Bechtel National Project Director Peggy McCullough noted that BNI has been earning “steadily increasing” performance scores. “Your attention to safety and quality is clearly evident in ORP’s evaluation of our performance,” McCullough said. “Our ability to continue to listen to our customer, understand their needs, and act upon their feedback is critical to meeting the mission. … The project is on the right track to safely deliver a quality plant to our customer.”
Five Defendants in Time Card Fraud Case Avoid Jail Time
WC Monitor
4/24/2015
No incarceration or home detention was ordered for five defendants sentenced this week in federal court on charges related to timecard fraud when they worked for former Hanford tank farm contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group. Judge Lonny Suko in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court handed down lighter sentences for all five defendants than prosecutors had requested in court documents. For two of the defendants, Suko cut the fines proposed by the Department of Justice in half. The five were the first hourly workers sentenced after a lengthy timecard fraud investigation at Hanford. Rhonda Stamper, Douglas Mallory, Christian Careaga and Carl Schroeder were radiological control technicians and Thomas Huebner, the fifth defendant sentenced this week, sometimes also served as a lead radiological control technician for the former contractor. All admitted to lying on their timecards about the hours they worked to receive extra overtime pay, according to the prosecution.
Stamper will be required to pay a fine of $119,494, based on the prosecution’s estimate of the costs to the federal government for her fraudulently claimed hours. However, she was not sentenced to six months home detention and eight days of confinement as the prosecution had requested in court documents. Huebner was fined $26,631, but was not sentenced to four months home detention or eight days of confinement. Mallory was fined $56,141 but not required to serve four months home detention. Careaga had his proposed fine of $90,000 lowered to $45,000, and Schroeder had his proposed fine of $50,000 reduced to $25,000. The prosecution had not planned to request home detention or incarceration for them.
All five provided substantial assistance to the investigation after pleading guilty, but Careaga and Schroeder’s cooperation was called outstanding by the prosecution. Both consented to a voluntary interview when first contacted by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General and readily admitted their roles in the timecard fraud conspiracy, according to court documents. Their cooperation continued with information that was neither held back nor exaggerated. All five of the defendants were sentenced to two years’ probation in addition to fines.
CH2M Paid $18.5 Million to Settle Allegations
CH2M Hill agreed to pay $18.5 million to the federal government in 2013 to settle civil and criminal allegations of defrauding taxpayers through widespread timecard fraud when it held the DOE tank farm contract at Hanford from fall 1999 to fall 2008. Overtime was called out in eight-hour shifts under the former contractor to induce workers to agree to take the shifts. They would be paid time-and-a-half for the first four hours of the shifts and double time on the second four hours, plus double time on Sundays. When the work was completed, sometimes hours early, workers would go home but claim full eight-hour shifts on their timecards, according to court documents.
Stamper’s attorney said in court documents that she was a low-level employee who arrived at a job site where she was told how to report her time and did as she was instructed. She became aware over time that she was being paid for hours not worked, but continued to report time as she had been instructed, according to her attorney. Because of the CH2M Hill payment, the five defendants sentenced Thursday were required to pay fines rather than restitution.
Five More Defendants to be Sentenced This Spring
Just one Hanford worker had been sentenced earlier on a charge related to enabling timecard fraud. Daniel Niebuhr had worked as a supervisor at the tank farms under the former contractor. He declined to cooperate with the Eastern Washington District Office of the U.S. Attorney after he changed his plea to guilty days before his trial. He was sentenced by Judge Edward Shea to 30 days confinement and a fine of $34,146. Niebuhr would have gone to trial with four other supervisors, all of whom were acquitted. Four other top managers or supervisors who were awaiting trial then had charges against them dropped in exchange for agreeing to pay civil settlements. Five more defendants who pleaded guilty to charges related to timecard fraud are expected to be sentenced this spring.