The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) has ordered the contractor on a $72.4 million interchange upgrade project to stop work, after DOT was ordered by the state Supreme Court to re-bid the project. The contractor has completed less than 10% of the work.
Dispute over Project Labor Agreement: At issue is a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) that was added to the bidding requirements eleven days prior to the bid submission deadline. The low bidder on the project, Lancaster Development, Inc., a non-union contractor, had already prepared their bid when the addendum adding the PLA was issued. Lancaster submitted their bid and, even though its bid was $4.5 million low, it was rejected as non-responsive for failure to comply with the PLA requirements. Lancaster filed a lawsuit which resulted in the court ruling.
PLA did not advance competitive bidding: The court ruled that DOT's decision to include the PLA as part of the project did not have "as its purpose and likely effect the advancement of the interests embodied in the competitive bidding statutes." Lancaster's president, Mark Galasso, noted that the PLA "would force us to fire our entire workforce" and hire union workers.
Next steps: New York DOT is reviewing its options. Assuming the project is re-advertised without a PLA, Lancaster intends to bid. And the joint venture firm that was awarded the project, A. Servidone/B. Anthony Construction Corp., is evaluating whether to appeal the decision.
More Information: Click here here to read a March 7,2012 article from ENR New York.
Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog© 2012 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLChttp://PublicContracting.blogspot.com
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