Feds probe alleged 'false claims' of work, inspections on Washington Bridge. What we know.

PROVIDENCE − The U.S. Department of Justice and Office of Inspector General are investigating the circumstances around the shutdown of the westbound span of the Washington Bridge, and, more specifically, an "allegation that false claims for payment for services and/or false statements in support of such payments have been submitted to the U.S. government."

The federal agencies are "seeking documents and records related to the Washington Bridge," Olivia DaRocha, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dan McKee, wrote in an email Friday evening.

"This is not unexpected, and the governor welcomes the review," she said. "The governor has instructed the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to fully cooperate. As you know, the governor has directed his Department of Administration to hire an independent, third-party expert to review this matter as well."

The governor's office subsequently made public a document demand letter to the DOT from the U.S. Attorney's office that said:

"The investigation concerns the allegation that false claims for payment for services and/or false statements in support of such payments have been submitted to the U.S. government."

"These payments relate to claims submitted involving the construction, inspection, and/or repair of the Interstate 195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence and East Providence, Rhode Island."

Among the document demands dating back to Jan. 1, 2015:

"All contractor invoices and progress payments, including all supporting documents, for work performed on the beam seats on piers 6 and 7 of the Washington Bridge.

"All documents, reports, or other records describing or showing any work performed on the beam seats on piers 6 and 7 of the Washington Bridge. This includes all daily diaries and/or daily work reports.

"All documents related to any inspection of the Washington Bridge, including all draft and final reports, all notes, and all photographs. This includes all correspondence, including emails and text message communications, related to any inspection of the Washington Bridge."

DaRocha said the U.S. Department of Transportation informed Rhode Island of the coming document request Friday, the same day a new, longer timeline for identifying repairs to the bridge emerged.

In December, Rhode Island transportation officials said they hoped to finish repairs to the ailing westbound span of the Washington Bridge by March. Now they only expect to find out what the repair plan is by then.

In an update to East Bay lawmakers whose constituents are struggling with traffic caused by the bridge shutdown, Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr. said Friday that he expects an engineering report on the bridge by the end of February or early March, according to those who were on the conference call.

A DOT spokesman confirmed that timeline Friday evening, writing that the agency "expects to receive the analysis and recommendations on next steps from the engineers by the end of February / early March."

The analysis is expected to reveal whether the westbound span needs to be torn down, a possibility Alviti raised earlier this week, which would greatly extend the timeline to fully reopen the bridge, compared with a more limited repair.

What happened on the call?

Most of the Friday conference call was dedicated to explaining the process the DOT is going through to figure out what to do with the bridge and how best to deal with the congestion caused by having half the normal number of travel lanes crossing the Seekonk River, two attendees said.

Rep. Jason Knight, D-Barrington, said in addition to laying out the late February to mid-March timeline, Alviti talked about the challenges of "corralling all these different engineering groups."

In addition to the consultants working to come up with a plan to fix the bridge, a second group of outside engineers is studying how a bridge that passed an inspection in July needed to be abruptly closed in December.

Rep. June Speakman, D-Warren, said much of the discussion focused on solutions for mitigating traffic while both directions of traffic are using the eastbound span.

In a news conference on Monday, Alviti declined to provide a timeline for when the DOT will come up with a plan to fix the bridge and how long that might take beyond the "near term." He said the engineers are still figuring out whether the span can be fixed as it is, whether it needs significant overhaul or whether it must be torn down.

Rep. Katherine Kazarian, D-East Providence, said Alviti agreed to hold in-person updates with members of the communities affected by the bridge.

"The traffic is unbearable," Kazarian said. "It is unpredictable and disrupting every facet of life. Getting children to and from schools has been a nightmare and for businesses that can't get deliveries. We need to emphasize how bad it is."

Lawmakers' ire comes as McKee this week has faced criticism for comments describing the bridge delays as only 10 or 15 minutes.

"There's always been a backup as you go through that area," McKee told reporters earlier in the week. "What's the timeframe: 10 minutes, 15 minutes? We know that is inconvenient to people, but we are trying to let them know that's what to plan on."

More: All options, including complete rebuild, on table for Washington Bridge, Alviti says in update

Joint House, Senate oversight hearing ahead

House leaders are still planning a House Oversight hearing during the week beginning Feb. 12, and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is now "amenable to conducting a joint oversight hearing with the House prior to the February recess.”

That timeline initially assumed the lawmakers would have one or more reports by then from the DOT − and/or its consultants − on how the bridge got so bad before the damage was spotted by a keen-eyed and unnamed "young engineer."

Asked what he hoped would come from the oversight hearing, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said he hopes for a "full vetting of the story."

Asked again Friday, Shekarchi said: “My position has been very clear, and I am not changing. I am committed to holding a House Oversight Committee hearing before the February recess. I am open to a joint hearing with the Senate or holding a hearing just with the House.”

State employees reminded they may have option of working from home

Even before Alviti delivered his latest bad news report, Administration Director Jonathan Womer fired off an email to top administrators across state government to remind them of policies that allow state workers to work from home, at least part-time, if their jobs allow and their supervisors approve.

The email he sent Thursday said, in part: "Given ongoing construction work on the Washington Bridge, the Department of Administration is reminding agencies of two policies to help manage employees with impacted commutes."

It could not immediately be determined how many state workers are currently working from home compared with before the bridge closure.

Judiciary spokeswoman Lexi Kriss told The Journal: "All courts have been as flexible as possible with people whose commutes have been disrupted due to the Washington Bridge closures and detours. This has included flextime and teleworking for staff – employee arrangements that we had already developed policies for during the height of the pandemic."

Some lawyers have also anecdotally reported accommodations that let them teleconference what otherwise would have been in-person meetings.

Womer, in his own memo, cited the state's "Teleworking policy" and "Flexible Work Arrangements policy," and said: "These policies were successfully used to manage many agencies’ workforce needs during the pandemic and may be helpful in minimizing workplace disruption in this case."

"I encourage you to be flexible where possible and appropriate with impacted employees."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: DOJ, Inspector General probe Washington Bridge shutdown