BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Three Massachusetts construction companies will pay a total of $1.4 million to the state to resolve legal action that accused the companies of falsely certifying compliance with the state’s equal opportunity requirements on contracts, said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Thursday.
The complaint claimed CTA Construction Co., MDR Construction Co. and Margen Inc., a minority-owned business, violated the state’s False Claims Act in three different contracts.
“Our office expects contractors to be honest in their efforts to employ minority- and women-owned businesses and not pretend to be in compliance,” Healey said. “Equal opportunity requirements in government contracts should not be intentionally subverted.”
One contract was in 2006 with the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, which contracted the building of the Camp Curtis Army National Guard Field Maintenance Shop in Reading. The other two contracts were in 2008. One was with the Massachusetts Port Authority for a project to build the State Police Barracks at Logan International Airport, and the other was a contract with the town of Hingham that built the Hingham East Elementary School.
State laws requires a certain percentage of jobs go to minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises. CTA will pay $1.05 million, of which $70,00 will go to Mass Port. MDR will pay $150,000 and Margen will pay $200,000.