A Covington attorney is suing the prime contractor of the Brent Spence Companion bridge project. Jamir Davis says Walsh Kokosing violated an agreement to hire him to oversee the hiring of small, minority and women owned businesses, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program.
“The DBE program was enacted so a percent of the work would go to small, minority, and even women-owned businesses,” he says.
Davis says the contractor violated his contract, hired another company and then dismissed it.
“ODOT has now allowed Walsh Kokosing... to self-perform the oversight of the small business, women-owned business and minority-owned business contracts.” he says. “That not how it’s supposed to be because that’s when fraud takes place.”
Davis says Walsh Kokosing hired him to do the job, and once it had won the contract, pushed him aside.
“They used me for nine months. They took my credentials. They didn’t even pay me. They were sending reimbursement statements for the work that I was doing and then didn’t pay me for nine months.”
He says the company then promised only to give him 40% of what was originally approved.
Davis says Walsh Kokosing hired another company briefly, and then decided the oversight should come from within the company.
He says self policing is how fraud happens.
“I want real small businesses working on this project that are from Kentucky, from Ohio. That’s what we’re looking for.”
He says he doesn't want this to interrupt or stall the project.
“If we wanted to, we could have filed for a what’s called a preliminary injunction,” he says. “We don’t want to do that. We know that the community wants this bridge built and we want this bridge built. But we want accountability first and foremost.”
The suit is filed in the Southern District of Ohio. Walsh Kokosing has not responded to a request for comment. A spokesman says ODOT does not comment on pending litigation.
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