Labor leaders happy with decision by DelDOT
Tainted by ambiguity in Delaware legislation, the process to build a new Indian River Inlet Bridge has again been delayed.
State officials announced late last week that confusion in the Delaware Bond Bill regarding procurement for a design-build process — where the two phases are conducted almost simultaneously — forced them to dismiss all three bids, including that of the apparent winning company, which operates out of Tampa, Fla.
Delaware’s Department of Transportation had estimated completion by 2010. It is yet unclear how long last week’s decision will set the project back. A state engineer said in July of last year that the bridge could become unsafe as early as 2011 to 2013.
Friday’s dismissal marked the second time Delaware Department of Transportation officials deferred bids to replace the controversial and potentially unsafe inlet bridge. Officials pointed to what seems to be a lack of legal basis in awarding a contract in 2006 Bond Bill language that authorized the deal.
“While the internal procedures for this project were open and based on professional standards, the 2006 Bond Bill provisions authorizing this design/build project are ambiguous,” DelDOT Secretary Carolann Wicks wrote in an April 26 press release. “Such ambiguity renders it impossible to assess the legality of the process. To avoid protracted litigation, I believe the best approach is to set aside the bids and initiate a new process as quickly as possible.”
A statement from the Delaware Attorney General’s office attempted to define the ambiguity. Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Attorney General, said that Bond Bill language did not specifically address which parts of relevant state legislation apply to a design-build process.
“Nor does it establish a process to award such contracts,” the statement read. “Such ambiguity renders it impossible to asses the legality of the process. Consequently there would be a probability of litigation over any award of the project.”
DelDOT had previously announced the apparent winner as PCL Civil Contractors Inc., a Tampa, Fla., company — although its bid of $124.9 million came in roughly $800,000 more expensive than that of Kiewit and Bilfinger/Berger.
The bids were graded on price and in a technical category, which took into account several technical issues. Kiewit, a Nebraska-based company with a regional office in New Jersey, formally challenged the bidding process before DelDOT’s dismissal last week, perhaps prompting the dismissal.
“We felt like there were flaws in the way the weighting of various portions of the bids were evaluated,” said Kent Grisham, a spokesman for Kiewit.
Delaware labor leaders, with much to gain for their members, agreed with Kiewet’s assessment and charged that an anti-union bias might be at work. Kiewet had promised to use Delaware union workers if it had received the bid and is “very proud of its relationship with labor,” according to Grisham.
A PCL official in Tampa said that company had not disclosed their intentions whether or not to use union labor through the bidding process.
“What’s most important to us is getting our members back to work. With the bids still out, we have opportunity to do that,” said David Walsh, executive director of the Delaware Building Trades Council. “The administration did the right thing. I applaud what they did.”
Samuel Lathem, president of the Delaware AFL-CIO, initially dismissed the union-versus-non-union argument.
“The argument was about the process,” he said. “Did it matter to me people (could be) coming in from Florida? Absolutely. We could use the work. There are several things that I think should have played into the process that didn’t.”
The Indian River Bridge carries roughly 16,000 to 18,000 cars daily, according to DelDOT. Without the bridge, the travel from Bethany Beach to Lewes by car would be twice as long for visitors, residents and emergency responders transporting patients from Delaware’s South Coastal area to Beebe Medical Center in Lewes.
Dennis O’Shea, DelDOT’s assistant director of design, said at a July informational meeting last year that, if not replaced, the bridge could become unsafe as early as 2011 to 2013. State officials have promised to close the bridge if it becomes unsafe, but such a move would carry dire consequences for patients in need of emergency care and area businesses that rely on tourist dollars.
According to DelDOT, “severe scouring” for more than four decades has resulted in an inlet depth of greater than 100 feet, a nearly 400 percent increase from 1965.
The scouring was first recorded in the 1980s by officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, who, with DelDOT, have been monitoring it since, fearful the bridge’s underpinnings could be undermined.
As a temporary fix and using millions of dollars, DelDOT has used large stones to protect the bridge’s foundation from further erosion, according an article published by O’Shea on the project’s Web site. To learn more, visit www.irib.deldot.gov on the Internet.