Sage Tec denies Hanford subcontracting lawsuit allegations
Sage Tec vigorously denies the allegations made by plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit over two Hanford nuclear reservation subcontracts, it said in a statement released Friday.
A week earlier, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a settlement agreement with Sage Tec in the lawsuit.
Sage Tec paid the settlement of $235,000 rather than spend at least that much money on litigation by the time the trial in the case started, the statement said.
Sage Tec, of Richland — owned by Laura Shikashio — was accused by plaintiffs of serving as a front company to help win Hanford nuclear reservation work for another Richland business, Federal Engineers & Constructors, or FE&C. Shikashio was married to an FE&C vice president.
Sage Tec had been designated a woman-owned, or disadvantaged, small business, which FE&C was not.
Sage Tec’s statement said Shikashio had decades of experience working on environmental remediation projects around the world, including projects involving nuclear waste, when she founded Sage Tec in 2009.
Her experience helped Sage Tec win and perform contracts over four years, not only for Washington Closure Hanford, but other Hanford contractors, including Mission Support Alliance, the statement said.
The two Washington Closure contracts at issue in the lawsuit were awarded to Sage Tec after it submitted the lowest bid, according to the statement. The work was ably performed with a a strong team of subcontractors and the lawsuit did not involve any allegations that work was deficient, the statement said.
The lawsuit alleged that Shikashio was the only employee of her company and owned no equipment, relying on FE&C to perform much of the work for two Washington Closure subcontracts valued at about $20 million. Washington Closure was required to award some work to small, disadvantages businesses.
This story was originally published October 14, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Sage Tec denies Hanford subcontracting lawsuit allegations."