PROVIDENCE — Federal officials have demanded that the state repay $3.1 million because the Department of Transportation didn’t adequately test concrete on major sections of its flagship project, the Route 195 relocation, which it calls the Iway.

The Federal Highway Administration, the agency paying for most of the $610-million project, also cited a lack of inspection, failure to take random samples of the concrete for testing and lack of enforcement of penalties that are supposed to be imposed on contractors for supplying substandard concrete.

Jerome F. Williams, the DOT’s director, acknowledged yesterday that the agency had not met federal requirements, using practices “that did not comply with what we should have been doing.” He said those problems occurred in 2005, 2006 and part of 2007, and that the DOT has since changed its practices. Governor Carcieri appointed Williams department director in December 2006, replacing James R. Capaldi.

Williams also said that paying back the FHWA could force the DOT to put off some highway projects, which he did not identify.

He said, however, that the concrete in question is strong enough to carry the weight of traffic.

“The concrete is safe — this is not a safety issue,” he said. The FHWA agreed, issuing a statement saying, “All of the concrete is structurally adequate, and fulfills the needs of the bridge to federal standards. Public safety is not compromised.”

The FHWA letter demanding reimbursement and the accompanying documents focus on the DOT’s failure to assure the concrete’s quality, citing the DOT’s failure to impose penalties in cases where the concrete’s strength did not meet specifications.

The DOT was supposed to impose those penalties, called “pay factors,” when concrete does not meet specifications but is not so far below standard that it has to be demolished and removed. That is a remedy virtually unused in Rhode Island, with DOT officials saying in the past that below-specification concrete can still carry the loads required.

The FHWA wants reimbursement for more than 3,000 cubic yards of concrete supplied under four contacts, all held by the Cardi Corp., the big local construction company, that are central to the 195 project. Among them is the contract containing the project’s most notable structure, the new arch bridge now carrying some traffic across the Providence River. That contract accounted for almost half of the costs the federal agency said it has disallowed. Cardi didn’t return a call yesterday.

The FHWA actually found $3.9-million worth of concrete ineligible for reimbursement; the federal share of that, which the federal agency wants back from the state, came to $3.1 million.

In addition to the bridge, the four contracts include the major parts of the project that have been built so far: the section of new highway connecting the bridge to the existing Route 195 on the city’s East Side, and the ramps west of the river that will carry traffic between the bridge and Route 95 north- and southbound.

Most of the project is still under construction, but two of the contracts include the first section completed and opened to traffic in November, the stretch carrying northbound traffic from Route 95 across the new bridge to the existing 195 eastbound.

Last October, The Journal reported on problems similar to those cited by the FHWA, along with DOT officials’ acknowledgement that they had been ignoring some of the agency’s own rules for ensuring high-quality concrete for four decades.

After reviewing hundreds of DOT concrete test reports from the DOT’s $130-million Route 403 project in North Kingstown, the newspaper also reported that the DOT had selectively thrown out low test results and failed to impose penalties on contractors for supplying substandard concrete, one of the FHWA’s criticisms now.

DOT officials acknowledged then that those practices had been used on projects including the Route 195 relocation, the FHWA’s target now. Williams said yesterday, however, that his understanding was that the FHWA had no plans to investigate any other projects.

The FHWA normally reimburses the state for 80 percent of the cost of highway and bridge projects. When it finds faults like the present ones, it declares the items ineligible for federal reimbursement and either demands repayment of the federal share or deducts it from future payments to the state.

Either way, unless the state can convince the FHWA that it should change the figure, the state will have to pay it out of its own revenue from an already-stressed state budget. Williams, however, said yesterday that his agency has already convinced the FHWA to reduce the amount of reimbursement once, to the $3.1-million figure.

“They initially said it was a much higher number,” he said, but didn’t tell the DOT what the higher figure was.

Meanwhile, Governor Carcieri, determined to balance the state budget without a tax increase, has proposed controversial cuts in social-service programs, including health insurance for low-income children, to close a deficit.

Word of the FHWA demand, addressed to Williams and dated Feb. 27, spread as Williams was about to present the DOT’s budget for next fiscal year to the House Finance Committee yesterday afternoon.

Williams began by presenting some good news — he had turned the department’s $5-million budget deficit this year into a surplus, and would maintain a balanced budget next fiscal year.

Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino quickly raised the $3-million demand from the FHWA. Does it mean the DOT will want an extra appropriation this fiscal year to pay it, he wondered.

Williams said it won’t.

Will the DOT recover money from Cardi, which supplied the concrete?

“We’re analyzing that right now,” Williams said. “I don’t believe we’re going to be able to.”

kgregg@projo.com