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.