Today, Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) settled a lawsuit brought by a qui
tam relator under the False Claims Act arising from Fluor's
management of the Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response
(HAMMER) facility. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) commissioned
HAMMER for the training of emergency first responders. Fluor Hanford,
Inc., a Fluor subsidiary, managed the HAMMER facility under a 1996 -
2009 DOE contract. The lawsuit alleged that Fluor improperly billed the
Department for costs incurred to market the HAMMER facility for training
of other government agencies.
Fluor maintains that the Company did nothing wrong nor unlawful: no
false claims were submitted to the government and no lobbying or other
laws were violated. To the contrary, Fluor Hanford's contract with the
Department of Energy obligated the Company to encourage other government
agencies to use the HAMMER facility to "increase economies of scale and
promote more cost-effective operation and maintenance" and to promote
HAMMER's use by these additional agencies to reduce the facility's
funding requirements (thereby reducing costs to taxpayers). Fluor was
prepared to prove that the use of consultants to contact other
government agencies to market the HAMMER facility was fully known to and
overseen by ranking Department of Energy officials, who themselves were
involved in meetings and communications with the consultants, and other
government agencies, and that there was nothing improper about these
marketing efforts by either DOE or Fluor.
Fluor takes pride in the fact that the company is well regarded in both
government and commercial contracting for its leadership stance on
ethical business conduct. Although Fluor strongly disagrees with the
lawsuit's allegations and the government's position in this matter (and
Fluor specifically denies any illegal or improper conduct in the
settlement agreement), Fluor's management nevertheless elected to accept
the government's proposed settlement of this case for the payment of
$1.1 million, in the belief that the avoidance of the expense and
distraction of litigation is in the Company's best interests.
About Fluor Corporation
For more than 100 years, Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) has partnered
with its clients to design, build and maintain many of the world's most
challenging and complex capital projects. Through its global network of
offices on six continents, more than 40,000 employees provide
comprehensive capabilities and world-class expertise in the fields of
engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, fabrication,
operations, maintenance and project management. Today, the company
serves a global client base in the energy, chemicals, government,
industrial, infrastructure, operations & maintenance, manufacturing &
life sciences, mining, power and transportation sectors. Headquartered
in Irving, Texas, Fluor ranks 124 on the FORTUNE 500 list and had
revenue of $27.6 billion in 2012. For more information, visit www.fluor.com.
Fluor CorporationMedia RelationsKeith Stephens, 469-398-7624orBrian Mershon, 469-398-7621orInvestor RelationsKen Lockwood, 469-398-7220orJason Landkamer, 469-398-7222