In the ongoing saga of discrimination and retaliation by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) towards me and my company, BBF Engineering Services, one of the latest issue is the ongoing, audit that commenced 3 weeks after filing Title VI complaints against MDOT in July, 2010.  The MDOT Office of Commission Audits began auditing my company back to 1999 contracts, even though an audit was performed in 2002.  MDOT OCA officials stated that these (Federally Funded) projects were still “open” even though the work had been completed up to 12 years prior.

A Certified Fraud Examiner (CFA) was assigned to my audit, and in December, 2012, I was notified of their major finding:  According to Ohio DOT Salary Guidelines, my 2006 and 2007 salaries were too high.  MDOT OCA stated that they would be adjusting my overhead rates for those years.  I guess working 10-12 hour days to make my company competitive, even in the midst of daunting circumstances was not enough to justify a salary that actually amounted to making about $70-90/hour.  Pretty reasonable for an experienced (25+ year) engineer who is the President, Principal Engineer, Business Development Manager, Human Resources Manager, etc. – and any other necessary functions needed operate my small civil engineering company in a competitive environment.

This is in keeping with the comment and subsequent actions when former MDOT Engineer Victor Judnic was referring to me when he stated “No Woman Should Make Money Like That” BBFES_FHWA.MDOT_2011Report.  I am also mindful of when the former MDOT Metro Region Engineer (and current COO) made a statement TO me in front of Judnic in May, 2009 “MDOT Doesn’t Owe You Anything”.  My response at the time was “I never said MDOT owed me anything”.   I would now state that “MDOT owed me a fair opportunity to compete for contracts”.

I AM TAKING A STAND FOR MY LIFE!!