If they come, they will build it

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, April 13, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

The Las Vegas Housing Authority finds itself in a peculiar situation, possibly a victim of its spotty past.

Contractors don't seem to want to work for the agency, the largest of three housing authorities in the Las Vegas Valley.

Last week the agency took out two advertisements for the fourth time in four months, extending the original deadline from Feb. 23 to Apr. 20, after receiving zero interest in making two housing projects accessible to disabled people. Two more ads appeared this week on similar projects.

All four were originally bundled together in one ad last July, which also drew no response.

The total cost of all four projects is expected to be about $2.5 million.

"It's been hard getting bids," interim Executive Director Carl Rowe said. "It's unusual."

Amparo Gamazo, who oversees bids for contracts at the Las Vegas agency as development modernization director, said it was the first time she had seen such a problem in 10 years at the agency.

Rowe said one of the reasons the ads have gotten no response might be that companies in town think they won't get a fair shake from the agency.

He said companies have told him, "I don't bid on housing authority stuff because I think the fix is in."

Rowe, who came in after a housecleaning last year brought on by spending scandals, said it was the first time since he took over in August that the agency had gotten no bids for advertised jobs. But he acknowledged that he had barely gotten responses from about a half-dozen other ads.

The two other housing authorities in the Las Vegas Valley - North Las Vegas and Clark County - have not encountered that problem, officials said.

The Las Vegas agency's annual budget of about $60 million is the largest of the three, which together help about 3,000 low-income people obtain housing.

It also has had the rockiest road in recent years.

Board member and federal public defender Franny Forsman resigned in protest against Executive Director Parviz Ghadiri's contract renewal in mid-2005; board member Donald Davidson was indicted on federal bribery charges later that year; and shortly after a federal audit alleged a lack of open and fair competition in contracting procedures in mid-2006, the executive and deputy directors resigned .

Gamazo said "there's been a lot of bad news about the agency" that might be affecting the bidding process, though she also noted that construction companies have plenty of commercial jobs from which to choose. In addition, federally funded projects involve a lot of paperwork.

The projects in question involve federally mandated upgrades for disabled people, such as wheelchair ramps, wider hallways and shower railings. Currently, there are no disabled tenants in the apartments listed in the ads, Gamazo said.

She was at a loss to explain the problem.

"I wish I knew why this was happening," Gamazo said, adding that she plans to meet with contractors soon to hear their side of the story.

"I want them to tell me, what is it? What is the problem? I'm trying to find out if it's actually a problem with our housing authority."