Las Vegas man rigged bid for project at Nellis Air Force Base, feds say

A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts in a bid-rigging scheme involving construction projects at U.S. military bases, including a planned aircraft maintenance facility at Nellis Air Force Base, according to the Department of Justice.

Scott G. Strodes, 65, submitted collusive bids for the aircraft maintenance facility at Nellis and health care facilities at an Air Force base in Georgia, the department said.

The crimes involved the sale of shelving and storage products to the Air Force.

Strodes, a former employee of a shelving and storage distributor, and several co-conspirators exchanged pricing information before submitting bids, at times instructing each other what prices to quote for certain projects, according to the department.

The projects, which had a total value of more than $1.8 million, were funded through the Defense Logistics Agency’s Facilities Maintenance, Repair and Operations Program, the department said. The guilty plea is the second in an ongoing investigation into bid-rigging and fraud involving U.S. military facilities.

“America’s warfighters deserve the best health care, and bid-rigging that distorts health care procurement deprives them of free and fair competition,” Daniel Glad, acting deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said in the release.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to rig bids, a violation of the Sherman Act, is 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, according to the department. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to defraud the United States is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A federal district court judge will determine Strodes’ sentence.