Contract raises bid questions

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

Clark County government could soon face yet another lawsuit over a construction bid, the head of the county Aviation Department told his bosses Tuesday.

Aviation Director Randy Walker said two low bids were rejected for a major redesign of the south baggage claim area at McCarran International Airport because the companies did not meet county requirements. Nevada's Flagship Construction Co. protested the bid.

Sletten Construction Co., which has offices throughout the West, won the bid, and the Clark County Commission approved the selection for the $6.69 million project with a 5-0 vote.

Although Flagship's representatives did not immediately promise to seek judicial intervention in the issue, Walker said the county could have been sued whether the low bid or Sletten was selected.

Flagship bid $6.65 million, and West Coast Contractors bid in the middle of the pack with $6.68 million, Walker said.

"Obviously we'd always like to take the lowest bid and lowest price, all things being equal," he said.

The problem for the county is that Flagship did not meet the requirements that 15 percent of the work actually be performed by the general contractor. Walker told the commissioners that the policy is in place to ensure that the general contractor is not an absentee boss overseeing subcontractors that do all of the work.

If the county had selected Flagship or West Coast, Sletten would have sued because the other companies did not meet the requirements for the bid, Walker said.

John O'Reilly, Flagship's lawyer, said the company met the requirements through the supply and installation of the steel needed for the job.

"We clearly met the intention and purpose of this provision, as well as the letter of the provision," O'Reilly unsuccessfully argued to the county commissioners.

He said the company would be "intimately involved" in the construction job through providing the steel.

"What they have done is they were going to procure the steel, but they were not going to erect the steel," Walker said. "If there's a question about the language, we'll tighten it up, but I think the language is really clear."

The project will essentially build another floor above the south baggage pickup area of McCarran, which is now open. Walker said the work would expand the number of security check lanes from 12 to 17 for the C and D gates.

The work should be completed by late 2004 or early 2005, he said.

Walker and other county officials have been caught up, with increasing frequency, in court fights over bids. The county commissioners received some good news Tuesday, hearing that a contested bid over work on the Las Vegas Beltway was thrown out, allowing Clark County Public Works to go forward with delayed construction on the highway.

But Walker said the number of court fights, which can delay projects for months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, are increasing.

"It's getting more contentious," he said. "It's almost impossible now to have a bid without contention."

He blamed the increasing complexity of the bidding process, much of it due to rules imposed by the Legislature.