Investigations

On January 25, 2013, Granite Construction (Granite), a California-based highway construction contractor, signed a civil settlement agreeing to pay the U.S. Government $367,500 to settle allegations they submitted false or inflated claims in connection with federally-funded highway construction contracts.

Specifically, Granite disclosed that in some instances, workman's compensation insurance rates used to support and/or negotiate the price of change orders and requests for equitable adjustment on federally-funded highway construction projects included added amounts or "cushions" that were not actually incurred by the company. However, these added amounts were included in the pricing documentation submitted to the Government.