PBS&J discloses internal investigation

PBS&J, a large engineering and architecture firm for governments, is investigating possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company revealed in a regulatory filing.

The company's Securities and Exchange Commission filing doesn't go into detail about what may have happened at PBS&J's international subsidiary, and a company spokeswoman, C.L. Conroy, wouldn't elaborate.

However, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act generally prohibits U.S.-based companies from making improper payments to foreign officials, usually through bribes, said Mike Seigel, a law professor at the University of Florida and former federal prosecutor.

PBS&J does engineering and construction management work for government agencies, often departments of transportation. It had been based in Miami, but moved to Tampa a few years ago. The firm has 80 offices and 3,900 employees worldwide.

According to its short SEC notice, which it filed Dec. 30, the company has been unable to file its annual financial report for the year ended Sept. 30 because of an internal investigation. The company's audit committee is investigating whether any laws were broken, including the FCPA, in connection with overseas projects, PBS&J's filing says.

The company reported its internal investigation to the SEC, the company said. Seigel, the UF law professor, said the SEC typically is more lenient toward companies that self-report legal violations.

This is just the latest legal problem for PBS&J. A former chief financial officer and two other PBS&J employees were found to have misappropriated more than $36 million from the company from the late 1990s until 2005. The embezzling scheme caused PBS&J to erroneously calculate its overhead costs and to overcharge its government clients.

In recent years, the engineering firm has settled with Florida, Texas and the federal government and agreed to pay each governmental entity millions of dollars.

The company also was subject to a major investigation by the Federal Election Commission, which found that PBS&J had for years hidden campaign contributions to political candidates. It also had encouraged employees to contribute to campaigns, and secretly reimbursed them for their payments, which is against the law, the FEC found.

Among other projects, PBS&J did design work on the massive Interstate 4-Selmon Crosstown Expressway project, which will connect I-4 and the Selmon Expressway.