Bardon Inc. Aggregate Industries to pay
Monday, October 11, 2010
Bardon, Inc. / Aggregate Industries to Pay $325,000 to Settle Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Suit
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
PRESS RELEASE
10-6-10

EEOC Said Female Technician Subjected to Sexual Comments and Requests, Lewd Acts and Groping, and Fired After Complaining to Management

BALTIMORE – Concrete company Bardon, Inc., trading as Aggregate Industries, Inc., will pay $325,000 and furnish significant remedial relief to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. Aggregate, an internationally owned ready-mix concrete company with operations in the United States and United Kingdom, has corporate offices in Greenbelt, Md.
In its suit, (Civil Action No. 8:08-cv-1883-RWT) filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the EEOC charged that Aggregate created and maintained a sexually hostile work environment for Ora L. Borrell -- the only female quality control technician employed at the company. The EEOC charged that the incidents of sexual harassment included repeated public urination in her presence, overt and explicit sexual comments and requests, touching and grabbing against her will and other sexually offensive conduct while on the job. Borrell’s managers were aware of the offensive conduct, having witnessed some incidents and through her complaints. Borrell was subsequently fired by the company’s human resources department in retaliation for opposing these discriminatory practices.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation for resisting such harassment and complaining about it. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.

Concrete supplier indicted in Boston 'Big Dig' scandal wiki
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Boston's Central Artery and Third Harbor Tunnel Project (CA/T), unofficially known as the Big Dig, plagued by cost overruns and reports of shoddy workmanship, has been hit with yet another scandal as six employees of its primary concrete supplier have been indicted for falsifying records regarding allegedly inferior concrete supplied to the massive highway construction project.

Federal prosecutors alleged in a 135 count indictment that of the 135,000 truckloads of concrete, a "web" of falsified documents were used to cover up a conspiracy where at least 5,000 truckloads — 1.2 percent of the concrete used — did not meet specifications. The company, Aggregate Industries NE Inc. was paid US$105 million for the concrete.

Aggregate said in a statement Thursday that it would cooperate with authorities.

The Big Dig
The fact that the ACP confided in Parsons Brinckerhoff to do the cost study for the third locks is cause for concern

The canal expansion's "Big Dig"
by Miguel Antonio Bernal

The cost estimate for the third set of locks in the Panama Canal expansion project was done by the American construction firm Parsons Brinckerhoff International. This company has had a consulting contract with the ACP since 2002. Recently the contract was renewed for 10 more years, that is, for the entire life of the project --- if the "yes" side wins. It's one of the world's largest and oldest companies. However, lately it has been in the news as the party responsible for the worst transportation construction debacle in US history.

For some 15 years Parsons Brinckerhoff International was, in a consortium with Bechtel, in charge of a traffic tunnel project in the city of Boston, better known as the "Big Dig." This project overshot its budget by 460% --- by $12 billion, so far --- and has been a spectacular failure. A few months ago, shortly after the tunnel system was said to be done and opened for traffic, an immense slab fell down from a tunnel ceiling and smashed a car and its driver. The investigation established that the materials used to hold the slab up were of a quality and price much lower than the company should have used --- what they said they used and what they charged the state for having purportedly bought. It was a fraud turned deadly, and that's only one of many improper practices that US courts found that the company had engaged in.

Boston FBI and 'Big Dig'
Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
August 4, 2009 United States Attorney's Office
District of Massachusetts
Contact: (617) 748-3100
Employees of Big Dig Contractor Convicted of Fraud

BOSTON, MA—Six former managers of Aggregate Industries N.E., Inc.’s concrete division, the largest asphalt and concrete supply company in New England, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States by a jury in U.S. District Court in Boston late yesterday.

Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks; Theodore L. Doherty III, Special Agent in Charge of the New England Regional Office of the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division; and Colonel Mark Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police announced today that ROBERT PROSPERI age 64 of Lynnfield, MA, GREGORY A. STEVENSON, age 53 of Furlong, PA, JOHN J. FARRAR, age 43, of Canterbury, CT, MARC BLAIS, age 36 of Lynn, MA were convicted late yesterday of conspiracy and fraud charges following a three week trial in U.S. District Court in Boston. PROSPERI and STEVENSON were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Highway Project Fraud and Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Defraud the Government with Respect to Claims; and Making False Statements in Connection with Highway Projects and Mail Fraud. FARRAR was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Highway Project Fraud and Mail Fraud and Making False Statements in Connection with Highway Projects and Mail Fraud. BLAIS was convicted of Making False Statements in Connection with Highway Projects and Mail Fraud. Codefendants, KEITH H. THOMAS, age 51 of Billerica, MA and GERARD M. MCNALLY, age 54, of Rockland, MA pled guilty prior to trial on July 8, 2009, to Conspiracy to Commit Highway Project Fraud and Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Defraud the Government with Respect to Claims; and Making False Statements in Connection with Highway Projects and Mail Fraud.

Between 1996 to 2005 PROSPERI, STEVENSON, MCNALLY, BLAIS, FARRAR and THOMAS were all employed in managerial positions in Aggregate’s concrete division. They were charged with highway project fraud and related offenses for their participation in a scheme to provide concrete to Big Dig projects that did not meet contract specifications, and to conceal the true nature of the concrete through false documentation. Between 1996 and 2005 the defendants delivered approximately 5,000 truckloads of non-specification concrete to the Big Dig. Each truckload comprised approximately ten yards of concrete. This concrete included recycled concrete that was over ninety-minutes old, concrete that had been adulterated with the addition of excess water, and concrete that was not batched pursuant to Big Dig project specifications.

The defendants recycled “leftover concrete,” i.e. concrete that had not been used by other customers, mixed the leftover concrete with Big Dig project concrete, and delivered this adulterated concrete to the Project. The leftover loads of mixed concrete were dubbed “10-9 loads" by the defendants, and did not meet Big Dig project specifications. The defendants concealed this fraud by falsifying concrete batch slips delivered to Big Dig inspectors and/or representatives of the general contractors at the various construction sites. These false batch reports were relied upon by the Government to determine the quality and amount of concrete placed by the general contractors on the project.

Big Dig project specifications required that concrete must be placed or poured within ninety minutes of batching. In most instances involving these “10-9 loads,” the concrete had exceeded the ninety minute time limit. In order to conceal the true age of the concrete, the defendants directed truck drivers and other Aggregate employees to add water, as well as other ingredients, to the “10-9 loads” to make those loads appear to be freshly batched. Big Dig project specifications also prohibited the addition of water to concrete after the concrete had been batched except under tightly controlled circumstances. The defendants also directed that fly ash be eliminated from the concrete mix specifications on the occasions when Aggregate Industries ran short of fly ash. Fly ash is an essential ingredient in concrete that makes the it more durable and prevents the infiltration of water.

The defendants face maximum penalties of 20 years’ incarceration on each of the mail fraud counts, 10 years’ incarceration on the conspiracy to make false claims against the United States, and 5 years’ incarceration on the conspiracy to commit highway project fraud and mail fraud count, as well as on each highway project fraud count. Each count also carries a period of 3 years’ of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000 fine. The defendants could also face an alternative fine in excess of $10 million which is twice the loss or, in this case, the amount billed to project contractors by Aggregate pursuant to the fraud.

Aggregate Industries N.E., Inc pled guilty in July 2007 and agreed to pay $50 million to the federal and state government, to resolve its criminal and civil liabilities in connection with a fraudulent scheme to deliver adulterated concreted to the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (“Big Dig”). The plea and settlement agreements also required Aggregate provide up to $75 million in insurance coverage for potential future structural maintenance costs related to their conduct. The case was worked jointly with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and included the execution of search warrants obtained by that Office. Evidence obtained in those searches was presented at the federal trial. Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks commented that the joint federal and state collaboration in this investigation was critical to the verdicts achieved.

The case was investigated by the United State Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Massachusetts State Police Assigned to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office . It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred M. Wyshak, Jr., Anthony E. Fuller and Jeffrey M. Cohen of Loucks’ Public Corruption Unit.

company database
Aggregate Industries Uk Limited

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Company Homepage: Aggregate Industries UK Limited

Aggregate Industries UK is not afraid to mix it up. The company, a subsidiary of Holcim, makes construction products such as aggregates, asphalt, precast, and ready-mixed concrete. Aggregate Industries UK produces about 30 million tons of sand and gravel a year under the Bardon Aggregates, Garside Sands, Halsvik Aggregates, and Quarrypak names. It also makes ready-mix concrete (through Bardon Concrete and London Concrete) and precast concrete products (Bradstone, Charcon, and Masterblock), which are manufactured in over 30 locations. Its Bardon Contracting unit is a civil contractor that paves roads and highways throughout the UK. The company also has operations on the Channel Islands and in Norway.

City Journal more on the 'Big Dig' scandal
EXCERPT:
Lessons of Boston’s Big Dig
Nicole Gelinas

America’s most ambitious infrastructure project inspired engineering marvels—and colossal mismanagement.

States, cities, and towns across America must spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually to preserve the nation’s infrastructure—the backbone of its private-sector economy—and yet more to build the next generation of roads, bridges, tunnels, and dams. Spending so much money wisely is daunting. The good news: no matter how complex and expensive any future project is, it’s unlikely to be more so than the Big Dig, Massachusetts’s three-decade-long quest to bury and expand the Central Artery, Boston’s major interstate highway, and carve out a new underwater tunnel to Logan Airport.

Conceived in the 1970s and finished, more or less, in 2005, the Big Dig is modern America’s most ambitious urban-infrastructure project, spanning six presidents and seven governors, costing $14.8 billion, and featuring many never-before-done engineering and construction marvels. Long before construction peaked around the turn of the millennium, eating up $100 million a month for three years, the Big Dig was a local legend, spawning dozens of jokes. (Wouldn’t it be cheaper to raise Boston than to bury the highway? Congressman Barney Frank asked.) Later, when fewer people viewed the Dig whimsically, it was the setting of a 2002 murder-mystery novel. And last year, after falling concrete panels in a Big Dig tunnel that had been open for three years killed a 38-year-old car passenger, the project became a reminder that infrastructure failure can exact a cruel price.