FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Garcia, 602-626-8805
TEMPE, Ariz. – January 4, 2019 – Our prevailing wage compliance division discovered that debarred contractor A&D Fire Sprinklers, Inc. continues to actively bid and be awarded government contracts. A&D Fire Sprinklers’ owner was convicted in an $11 million veteran set-aside fraud scheme and will be sentenced on February 19, 2019.
Andrew Otero of A&D General Contracting, Inc. and Roger Ramsey of Action Telecom, Inc. fraudulently obtained more than $11 million in federal contracts that were specifically set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.
Investigations determined Otero had no military experience. Ramsey is a service-disabled veteran who participated in a conspiracy with Otero to defraud the government by forming a joint venture called Action-A&D, which falsely represented that Action and the joint venture qualified as a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business. The companies did not operate as legitimate service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, but were really controlled by Otero. The parties had agreed that A&D would keep 98% of every payment; Action Telecom would receive 2% of every payment.
“It’s important that cheating contractors are caught and penalized,” said TCLG Managing Partner Israel Torres. “That way, contractors who play by the rules can compete on a more even playing field.”
TCLG uncovered that A&D Fire Sprinklers, a company owned by Otero, has been working on government projects at Hill AFB in Utah. A&D Fire Sprinklers was awarded one of its Hill AFB projects even after its debarment on August 22, 2017.
TCLG aggressively monitors prevailing wage projects on municipal, state and federal construction contracts for compliance. We provide a variety of consulting services, including regulatory compliance and public and government relations, to clients across the United States. A specialty is Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage compliance for local unions, contractor associations and building trades’ organizations.