Cracked Foundation: Corruption in Public Construction

This project manager for a public construction agency had earned its trust but had stolen its dollars – thousands of them. Learn how he did it and how the agency reformed. 

Everyone at the public construction agency knew project manager “Scott Johnson” was from the “old school.” Johnson, a seasoned, 10-year employee, was rough around the edges, a tough negotiator with contractors, terrible with paperwork, and not much for following procedures. But he got the job done. His multimillion-dollar capital construction projects were on time and within budget, or so it seemed.

Johnson, approaching 70 years of age, enjoyed the support of the agency’s management because he delivered for one of its largest and most prominent public clients. He thrived in the limelight and reveled in the power and prestige his position carried within the agency and, more importantly, with the client. New capital projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars were on the horizon and Johnson would be at the helm. However, his future dimmed when the agency’s Certified Fraud Examiner, “Dale,” received allegations from a confidential source that Johnson was steering work to favored subcontractors at two large capital projects under his direction.