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PennDOT ordered seven companies to refund the agency a total of $217,013 after finding they overbilled for inspection work at construction sites.

The money has been paid, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said. The refunds follow allegations by a former PennDOT worker that private consultants hired by the agency's District 11 office in Collier padded their resumes in order to charge higher rates.

Paybacks range from $2,085, by GAI Consultants Inc. in Homestead, to $61,064, by Construction Methods and Coordination Inc., in Kimberton, Chester County, according to a list obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

None of the companies would comment.

Kirkpatrick said only that the agency had received the refunds.

"Because this whole issue is the subject of ongoing litigation, I can't say more than that," Kirkpatrick said.

Former PennDOT construction manager Bill Arnold initially reported to superiors in 2001 that consultants were overbilling the District 11 office and that PennDOT managers were approving the payments. Instead of fixing the problem, Arnold says PennDOT superiors retaliated against him.

Arnold, of Washington County, filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit in 2003, saying superiors stripped him of his duties after he complained to state authorities about the overbilling. Arnold says he found more than $800,000 in overpayments to inspection companies working for District 11 between March 2000 and June 2001.

Arnold's attorney, James Ashton, said in 2003 he determined the overpayments totaled more than $1 million. Arnold's lawsuit does not make claims about contracts beyond District 11, which includes Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.

Arnold was an assistant construction engineer and retired in 2004. In his lawsuit, Arnold seeks reinstatement to his former position and more than $50,000 in damages.

Arnold and Ashton declined to comment.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, has exposed other problems at PennDOT's District 11 office.

Pre-trial testimony in the case recently exposed allegations that local PennDOT employees accepted gifts from consulting firms working for PennDOT. Those gifts included expensive golf outings and trips to Pirates games.

None of the allegations have been proven. No employees have been reprimanded and no companies have been penalized.

Still, the allegations prompted PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler on June 17 to send an e-mail to PennDOT consultants, warning them to end the practice. Biehler also ordered PennDOT executives to tell employees to stop accepting gifts.

Pennsylvania law forbids PennDOT and other state employees from soliciting or accepting gifts or items of value from contractors. Food and refreshments of nominal value are acceptable "on infrequent occasions." Those who violate the law might lose their jobs.

PennDOT has not denied there were problems with inspection contracts.

When Arnold first pointed out the problems in 2001, PennDOT audited 600 inspectors working at construction sites statewide and found 139 problems.

After Arnold filed his lawsuit in 2003, PennDOT launched another investigation of inspection contracts. PennDOT since has declined to discuss details of the audit or its findings.

Biehler, of Crafton, declined to comment.

Barbara Posner, president of VE Engineering Inc., of Hunt Valley, Md., which refunded $18,993, said, "We really don't have any comment."

A woman answering the telephone at Quality Engineering Solutions Inc., of Conneaut Lake, Crawford County, said the company declined to comment.

Employees answering the phones at GAI and L. Robert Kimball & Associates, in Ebensburg, Cambria County, said there was nobody available to comment. Messages left at M.A. Beech Corp., of Carnegie; Construction Methods; and Erdman Anthony, of Rochester, N.Y., were not returned.

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