ALLEGHENY TELEDYNE TO PAY UP; FEDS SAY NORTHRIDGE FACILITY OVERCHARGED.

Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer

Allegheny Teledyne Inc. has agreed to pay $14 million to the federal government to settle accusations of overcharging at its former Northridge facility, authorities said Wednesday.

Government officials charge the company's former metrology department - that is, the division that tested testing equipment - with improper accounting practices that piled most of its overhead charges on the government.

``We are very pleased with the settlement,'' said Susan Hershman, assistant U.S. attorney.

The company did not admit any wrongdoing, she said.

The settlement resolves both an administrative investigation started in 1991 by a government audit agency and a 1995 whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former Teledyne employee.

In 1996, Teledyne merged with Allegheny. The combined firm makes specialty metals, advanced electronics and aerospace systems.

Officials said Teledyne Systems Co. in Northridge, a unit of Teledyne Inc. that later was sold to Litton Industries, had developed a side business calibrating and repairing sensitive testing equipment for commercial customers.

Teledyne classified its metrology technicians' work as ``other direct costs,'' which had almost no overhead charged on it. Instead, most of the overhead costs were charged to the government.

Hershman said the overhead costs should have been shared by both commercial customers and the government. She said the commercial side of this business was substantial - at least half of the company's revenues for some period of time.