A federal jury convicted a former executive at an engineered construction products firm Feb. 1 for his role in a bid-rigging scheme that targeted the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation.

Brent Brewbaker was an executive at the West Chester, Ohio-based Contech Engineered Solutions LLC when he was accused and convicted of conspiring to rig bids and submit false certifications of non-collusion for more than 300 NCDOT aluminum structure projects between 2009 and 2018. The US Justice Dept. said evidence showed that he told another conspirator to submit non-competitive bids. In attempts to hide the fraud, he instructed the unnamed co-conspirator to vary amounts of the inflated bids, and said he would delete text messages about the scheme.

美国北卡罗来纳州新伯尔尼的美国地方法院的陪审员被定罪的酿酒师合谋驾驶竞标，串谋实施欺诈，电汇欺诈和三项邮件欺诈罪。他因竞标定罪而面临长达10年的监禁，并互相计算20年。

As ENR previously reported,Brewbakerhad been employed by Contech for more than 25 years and is a former president of the Southeast Corrugated Steel Pipe Association. His attorney, Ripley Rand, previously told ENR that Brewbaker did not gain any financial benefit in connection with the projects in question, and that taxpayers didn’t pay anything extra for the projects as a result of Contech’s bids.

Contech为桥梁，卫生下水道，雨水管理和其他项目提供产品。新利18备用网址2020年10月，该公司对竞标和串谋进行邮件或电汇欺诈表示认罪，作为认罪协议的一部分。孔克斯同意支付700万美元的刑事罚款加上约150万美元的NCDOT。

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Dept.’s antitrust division, which prosecuted the case, warned in a statement that authorities would be looking for similar bid-rigging schemes as infrastructure project funding from the $1-trillion infrastructure bill begins to reach state and local governments.

布鲁贝克定于4月12日被判刑。