The company's domestic construction arm was sold in the early 1990s to a division of Birmingham-based Raytheon Engineers & Constructors.

Her father is a civil consulting engineer in the Lyndhurst, N.J., office of Raytheon Engineers and Constructors.

The Energy Department has contributed $1.1 million to help with the development and Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, which hopes to win engineering work if the system is used, paid $500,000.

Her father is a manager in contracts at Raytheon Engineers and Constructors Inc. in New York.

Washington Group has said its purchase of Raytheon Engineers and Constructors in July 2000 provided a lesson in the risks in the industry.

Raytheon Engineers and Constructors will also consolidate several offices and form an international operations center in Houston.

The dispute involves Raytheon Engineers and Constructors International, a specialist in power plant construction that reported revenue of $2.7 billion in 1999.

Her father retired as a mechanical engineer in Tampa for Raytheon Engineers and Constructors.

The Washington Group is descended from Raytheon Engineers and Constructors and the Ebasco engineering concern, an original tenant in the south tower.

Washington Group bought the unit, Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, for $53 million in cash in July, and assumed liabilities of $450 million.