Embassy builder sues Trump administration for over $461 million, alleging the State Department abandoned a settlement

U.S. embassy builder B.L. Harbert International has sued the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The lawsuit seeks at least $461,097,380 in damages, along with interest and other relief. It was filed on Wednesday.

The company alleges that during the COVID-19 pandemic the U.S. State Department directed it to continue embassy construction projects worldwide. It says the department later reached a $370 million settlement to handle the resulting claims but then reversed course. According to the complaint, the government paid just $501,636 before backing out of the deal.

The complaint covers 12 diplomatic construction projects across four continents, including facilities in Turkey, Iraq, Thailand, Morocco, Mexico and Central America.

Harbert alleges that career State Department officials reached the $370 million agreement in September 2025, but that political leadership inserted themselves into the process after the settlement was reached and the deal was abandoned. The company says that, on information and belief, the decision to abandon it 'came from the top.'

Charles Bohn, president of B.L. Harbert's International Group, said in a statement: 'We did not want to take this step. The U.S. Government is an important partner, and we are proud of the work we do together to advance America's interests and protect Americans serving overseas. But we have a responsibility to our employees and to the future of that mission. We kept our commitment under extraordinarily difficult conditions. We are asking the government to keep its commitment to us.'

The dispute dates back to the beginning of the pandemic, when Harbert was working on 17 embassy and consulate construction projects around the world. According to the company, those projects represented nearly two-thirds of the State Department's embassy construction program at the time. The firm has built dozens of U.S. embassies and consulates over more than two decades.

As countries shut down and global supply chains seized up in early 2020, Harbert sought guidance from the State Department on whether to pause construction. The company argues the pandemic constituted an 'excusable delay' under its contracts that would have allowed it to send personnel home, secure construction sites and resume work once conditions stabilized. Instead, the company alleges, State decided to keep its overseas construction program moving.

According to the complaint, State directed Harbert to remain ready to mobilize and to continue procuring and shipping materials so projects would not end up at the 'back of the line' when global construction activity resumed. The complaint says State recognized that doing so could generate additional storage, shipping and other costs and directed the company to submit requests for equitable adjustments as those costs arose. In one March 2020 communication cited in the complaint, Harbert warned State that it could not afford to continue paying workers to remain on standby without assurances of reimbursement; labor costs on the new U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City alone were running roughly $1.3 million per month, according to the filing.

The projects ultimately moved forward under pandemic restrictions. Harbert says those restrictions increased costs and reduced productivity as the company dealt with workforce limitations, supply-chain disruptions and new operating requirements. According to the company, the government has since taken possession of all 12 diplomatic facilities at issue in the lawsuit and has been using some of them for more than three years.

Harbert ultimately submitted more than $500 million in requests for equitable adjustments and other claims. Alongside the claims stemming from the pandemic directives, they included separate project disputes, including alleged design changes and government-caused delays.

With deadlines approaching to preserve its claims, Harbert says it formally certified them in March 2026. The complaint alleges State's chief of staff encouraged the company to do so, representing that certification would make it easier for the government to implement the settlement. Instead, State contracting officers began denying the claims in July, and by 13 October 2026 all 13 certified claims now at issue in the lawsuit had received final decisions.

The lawsuit does not currently ask the court to enforce the alleged $370 million settlement itself. Harbert says its settlement-related claims remain in the administrative process and that it reserves the right to add them to the lawsuit later. The State Department has been asked for comment.

Harbert has been awarded roughly 60 U.S. embassy and consulate construction projects since 1999. The company says the number of American contractors willing and qualified to undertake such work has dwindled significantly, in some cases leaving just two or three qualified bidders for projects, because embassy construction requires specialized security clearances, vetted workforces and the ability to manage complex construction and supply chains abroad.