Highway Contractor to Pay $950,000 to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

NEWARK, N.J. B A Rahway, New Jersey-based highway contractor will pay $950,000 to resolve allegations that it improperly represented itself as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) in order to obtain federally funded contracts, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced today.

The settlement resolves allegations that from October 2016 through April 2019, MV Contracting Inc. obtained several contracts funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) set aside for DBE companies as part of a program designed to remedy ongoing discrimination in federally assisted highway contracting markets. The United States contended that MV Contracting procured these contracts despite knowing that it did not in fact qualify as a DBE. The company submitted improper claims for payment under the contracts, which were paid using federal funds.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Eric J. Soskin, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Office of Inspector General , under the direction of Inspector General John Gay, with the investigation of the allegations against MV Contracting.

The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark C. Orlowski of the U.S. Attorney's Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.