The companies that lost out on the Public Services facility are questioning the city’s process.
In a first reading, the Westbrook City Council unanimously awarded Great Falls Construction the bid for the city’s $7.6 million public services facility Monday, but not without controversy about the choice.
Great Falls won out over French/Landry Construction and the Sheridan Corp. for the bid, but representatives from both losing bidders sent emails to city officials following the initial recommendation that questioned the decision.
A public hearing and final vote is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 19.
At the meeting, members of the City Council referred to “accusatory” statements made in the emails, and defended the recommendation, even prior to the official vote from the council.
Kevin French from French/Landry said Tuesday that the process “seemed to favor” Great Falls.
“It seems like they gave an unfair advantage to that side,” he said. “The question is why.”
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said Tuesday that the selection process was clear.
“No one was given an advantage over anyone else,” he said. “It was an open process.”
An official recommendation was made to the council from a building committee that has been working on the project for a number of years. The committee includes members of the City Council and residents. The city also hired two consultants – Owens McCullough of Sebago Technics and David Lay of SMRT – to conduct interviews with each bidding design team. Each construction company was only allowed to read the other proposals following the final recommendation.
French said that the original proposals had to be in by Aug. 28, at which time, he said, Great Falls’ proposal didn’t include many of the design elements that the city had requested. He said 10 days later, Great Falls had greatly amended its proposal, which eventually beat out the remaining bidders, alluding to the possibility that information on the proposals was shared.
French said it’s the nature of the business to lose bids, but said the process didn’t seem fair.
City Councilor Michael Foley said Monday that the council had also heard concerns from Sheridan that day. During the meeting, representatives from Sheridan spoke with McCullough and Lay, but left prior to the vote.
Officials from Sheridan and Great Falls did not return calls seeking comment by the American Journal’s deadline Wednesday.
“Anyone that’s losing isn’t really satisfied,” McCullough said Monday, in response to questions from Foley.
He said Sheridan wanted to make sure the selection team understood their concerns.
“Somewhere we had to make a decision and we felt Great Falls offered the overall best value to the city,” he said.
Of the bids made, Sheridan Corp. was the lowest bidder, at $7.3 million. However, Bryant said, the selection committee and building committee were both concerned that Sheridan’s price did not include certain factors, which would add extra costs. He also said the proposal from Landry/French was the high bid, $8 million, and didn’t include certain design elements. The Great Falls bid was $7.6 million.
The city’s facility on Saco Street is more than 50 years old, and has been retrofitted multiple times to be able to keep up with modern standards. City officials say the new building will allow the city to better care for its fleet of machinery and vehicles, which also include the police and fire vehicles.
Bryant said the challenge with a design-build project, which asks bidders to submit a design based on a list of features desired by the city, is that each design is different. On Monday, he said this causes the decision to become more “open to interpretation.”
“There’s nothing that could be construed as unfair or favoring one applicant over the other,” he said.
Bryant said the only company he had met prior to the process was Landry/French.
He said the companies that weren’t recommended simply needed more explanation because the selection isn’t as simple as just “adding up the numbers,” because each proposal was different.
“The building committee has to lean on the two individuals that we hired to deliver this project to us,” said Councilor John O’Hara, referring to McCullough and Lay.
City Council President Brendan Rielly referenced the email exchanges between the losing bidders and the city.
“I will not stand for anybody to attack the integrity of our professional people here,” he said at the meeting Monday.
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