Black Hills Thinning: False Forest Service Worker-Compliance Invoices

Black Hills Thinning’s false Forest Service worker-compliance invoices led to a $759,999 civil judgment against its proprietor. The Rapid City, South Dakota business performed work thinning unhealthy timber in the Black Hills National Forest. The contracts barred undocumented workers, yet the contractors’ invoices falsely certified that legal workers had performed the work. If you knew the crews or prepared the bills, you would recognize the connection that matters here: who did the work, what the contract required and what the government was told when the contractor asked for payment.

The case puts contract requirements for the people performing the work directly inside the payment request.

What Is a False Certification?

The invoices’ false certification told the Forest Service that legal workers had performed its thinning work when the contractors had employed undocumented workers.

The government was buying thinning services under a contract with a worker requirement. The contractor’s invoice represented that the requirement had been met in performing the work being billed.

We see a straightforward abuse of that bargain: the business supplying the workers also supplied the false assurance about them. Taxpayers were asked to pay on the strength of that assurance. Same crew. Different story on the bill.

Why the Invoice Mattered

The invoice mattered because it vouched for the workforce on the Forest Service job. We would examine that statement alongside the contract’s worker requirement and the facts about the crew.

The contract promised the Forest Service more than timber thinning. It also set terms for who could perform that work. In our view, the false assurance cheated the purchaser of that choice. We would want to hear from someone who understood how the crew was selected and what the people approving the bills knew about it.

The Black Hills Thinning Civil Judgment

In its October 2015 announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota identified the defendant as the proprietor doing business as Black Hills Thinning.

The same announcement reported a separate $458,374 civil judgment against the proprietor of SM Logging & Services, based in Hermosa, South Dakota. The Justice Department described the two monetary awards together as triple damages and 44 separate penalties under the False Claims Act.

The announcement credits investigations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security, in cooperation with the Forest Service, the Department of Labor and state and local law enforcement, for criminal convictions that preceded the civil lawsuit.

The Earlier Forest Service Settlements

The earlier Forest Service settlements totaled $455,000 and resolved government allegations of fraud involving the agency’s contracts. The Justice Department said those civil settlements were reached in November 2014 with the operators of other thinning and logging businesses.

Black Hills Thinning’s proprietor and the proprietor of SM Logging & Services each faced a later, separate civil judgment.

What an Insider Can See Behind the Invoice

An insider can connect the worker-compliance statement to the people who actually performed the contract work. Someone familiar with staffing may know the crew. Someone involved in billing may know the certification sent with the request. We bring those accounts together with the contract and billing records to understand what the business represented and who knew the underlying facts.

The most useful comparison stays specific to the work being billed. Which contract requirement did the statement address? Which workers performed that work? What information reached the people preparing or approving the invoice? These are questions we work through with an insider, connecting their view of the operation to the claim the government received.

Nagan Construction: The Payroll and the Work

In the civil settlement involving Nagan Construction, the contrast was between daily supervisor reports recording skilled carpentry and bricklaying and certified payrolls classifying that work as lower-paid laborer work in monthly payment applications.

A whistleblower case under the False Claims Act can pay 15% to 30% of what the government recovers.

You Know the Crew Behind the Certification

If you know why a Forest Service invoice’s worker-compliance statement conflicts with the crew that did the job, speak to one of our whistleblower experts about the crew behind the bill. We build your strongest whistleblower case with you around the contract, the labor and the decisions behind the bill, and bring in government procurement whistleblower lawyers who understand false labor certifications. You have us beside you from that first conversation through the pursuit of the case.