County awards bid on car rental complex

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

A national construction company won a $123.3 million contract to construct a new car rental center at McCarran International Airport, but Clark County commissioners expressed concerns about the company's history.

The project is one of McCarran's largest construction efforts and would consolidate the airport's car rental companies into one central facility.

PCL Construction Services won the bid, but Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates expressed concerns Tuesday and today about the company's history. Representatives from several local companies suggested irregularities occurred in the bidding process.

The commission, at the motion of Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, tabled the issue Tuesday until today to receive a report from the district attorney's office on the legitimacy of the bid. Assistant District Attorney Lee Thomson told the board that the bid appeared to be in order and could not be rejected.

Gates said the bid wasn't her concern, but worried that the company has entered into litigation against a number of payers in the past.

"This company has a history that is not all that favorable in my opinion," Gates told her colleagues, citing a $400,000 cost overrun and change orders that increased the price of a project at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Randy Walker, Aviation Department director, said the county doesn't have a lot of leeway in picking the contractor because state law requires the county to select the low bidder. PCL's bid was about $4 million less than the nearest competitor, North Las Vegas-based Asphalt Products Corp. Asphalt Products Corp.