An engineering firm involved in the Obama Presidential Center project is pushing back against allegations of racial discrimination, calling them baseless smears. The firm argues that criticizing a subcontractor’s work does not equate to racism.

Thornton Tomasetti is a structural engineering company based in New York City. It was responding to a $40.75-million lawsuit that accused it of racist intent. The suit alleged it had criticized a Black owned concrete subcontracting business for allegedly underperforming at a sprawling 19.3-acre site in Chicago’s Jackson Park.

The suit has brought national attention to the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals that underpin the project. It has also been plagued with delays, and the costs have ballooned from $350 to $830 million. This center will honor former president Barack Obama’s political career. It includes a 235-foot tower museum and a branch of the Chicago Public Library, as well as conference facilities.

Thornton Tomasetti told the Obama Foundation (the non-profit that oversees this project) that corrective works were required due to a variety of problems, such as cracked concrete or exposed rebar. The subcontractor was also inexperienced, and the firm was “questionably” qualified.

The subcontracting firm, II In One Concrete, said the criticism amounted to racial bias and filed the $40.75 million lawsuit to recoup the cost of the extra work it had to carry out following requests by Thornton Tomasetti.

In a motion for dismissal filed on Tuesday by Thornton Tomasetti, the company said that the lawsuit, “without a shred of factual backing,” smeared II In One Concrete as racist and claimed the group relied on their minority status to make these claims.

The center established DEI targets in its construction contracts. 35% of the subcontractors were required to be owned by minorities. II In One is one of the three companies that made up a joint venture team with a majority ownership of 51%.

Thornton Tomasetti’s attorneys wrote that plaintiffs aren’t immune to scrutiny because they own a minority business or the project favors the use of services from minority businesses. They should be treated as any other subcontractor, with the usual disagreements and disputes associated with large projects.

Professional criticism without further explanation is not racist.

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The lawsuit by II in One Concrete stems from an email Thornton Tomasetti sent to the Obama Foundation a little over a year earlier, claiming II in One – and the contractors it worked with on the Project – were responsible for many construction problems during the Project.

Thornton Tomasetti wrote in the memo that it was their intention to defend themselves and not the subcontractors. The firm oversees the structural engineering and architectural services on site.

The lawsuit filed by II In One Concrete claims that the Obama Foundation used the memo to not pay the subcontracting companies around $40.75 for “additional expenses incurred,” which resulted in the corrective works and brought II In One Concrete close to bankruptcy.

Robert McGee is the owner of II In One Concrete, and he’s Black. He claims that II In One has been discriminated against “on the grounds of race”, and the plaintiffs have “been subjected to unjustified, discriminatory behavior…which directly undermined DEI commitments and goals by the Obama Foundation.”

McGee says Thornton Tomasetti wrongly claimed II in One lacked the qualifications and experience necessary to carry out its work. However, it stated that contractors owned by non-minorities were qualified.

McGee’s suit cites II in One as having a 40-year history in the construction industry and its successful completion of large Chicagoland projects. McGee says that Thornton Tomasetti changed industry standards, imposed new requirements for rebar spacings and tolerances, and revised the rules.

Thornton Tomasetti claimed in its motion for dismissal filed on Tuesday that the requirements regarding rebar spacing were included in the contract and bid specifications. Thornton Tomasetti also said there were many other issues that it identified in its memo, but this lawsuit didn’t address.

The filing on Tuesday states that “while plaintiffs’ claims focus solely on the rebar-splice specification, they overlook the bigger picture. TT (Thornton Tomasetti), flagged many other critical work defects in the memo which none of the plaintiffs acknowledged, much less refuted.” The filing states that plaintiffs can’t simply pick one criticism of their work from TT and claim it as discrimination while remaining silent about the multitude of problems TT outlined in the memo.

Thornton Tomasetti stated that the claim of discrimination, defamation, and tortious interference in contract was “fatally flawed.” It must be rejected.

The motion for dismissal states that “Plaintiffs have failed to state facts which plausibly portray a picture racism” (as there are no racist remarks, observed bias or facts showing discriminatory treatments). They also admit that Thornton Tomasetti was motivated by the desire to defend its services against criticisms made in the beginning, not because of any discrimination.

The plaintiffs should dismiss the complaint and shut the door on their outrageous claim that minority-owned businesses are not subject to scrutiny or critique. They also do not have to adhere to project specifications, no matter how ‘burdensome’ they may be.

The Obama Foundation has previously informed them that they are not parties to the suit and that the delay would not affect the concrete works, which have already been completed in large part.

Emily Bittner (Vice President of Communications at the Obama Foundation) said recently that “if the Foundation believes any vendor is acting with racist intent, we will immediately take the appropriate action”. Requests for updated information about the cost of this project have not been answered by the foundation.

It is anticipated that the Obama Presidential Library will open sometime next year. The library also houses digitized files from former President Obama’s tenure in office. There will be a gym and an NBA-sized court. The Obama Foundation will be housed there.

It is not an official Presidential Library, like the other libraries that are run by the National Archives and Records Administration. This move allows the foundation to be more flexible in terms of its design, size, and public space.

Obama Presidential Library is currently located in Hoffman Estates, northwest Chicago. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency terminated its lease on the site. It is expected that the library will close in the fall of this year.