U.S. Reinstates Engineer Whose Employee Faked Credentials

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation ended on Sept. 14 the suspension of Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Garg Consulting Services, which failed to properly vet the credentials of Barry Kenneth Purnell, Jr., a bridge inspector who falsely claimed to have an Engineer-in-Training certificate from the state of Connecticut.

Garg now is cleared to work on other federally funded contracts.

The company had agreed earlier in the year to pay $390,000 in state and federal penalties related to employing Purnell on state transportation projects.

Purnell had on his LinkedIn page also portrayed himself as a licensed professional civil engineer, although it isn’t clear when he first posted the information.

According to a letter to Garg from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Walter C. Waidelich, Jr., associate administrator for infrastructure suspending and debarring, Garg immediately on learning of Purnell’s fraud hired an outside firm to check the credentials of all Garg employees each quarter and agreed to continue doing so for five years.

Waidelich deemed Garg a responsible contractor and decided to end Garg's suspension.

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.

Post a comment to this article

Enhancing Collaboration and Surpassing Traditional Design-Build Methods with Progressive Design-Build

Earn: 1 PDH; 1 AIA LU/Elective; 0.1 IACET CEU

Progressive Design-Build is reshaping large infrastructure projects by addressing key issues with the traditional Design-Build approach. We'll explore how PDB fosters collaboration between owners, design-builders, and design teams to develop a well-defined scope and budget, plus minimizes cost overruns and reduces liability claims.