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StumbleJudge: Protest of 215 Beltway paving bid too late
Friday, June 12, 2009 | 12:01 p.m.
Documents (.pdf)
Beltway widening
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A Clark County District Court judge ruled today that county commissioners erred when they considered a protest letter in denying the lowest bidder for the construction of the northern 215 Beltway.
Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez said the letter filed with the county by Las Vegas Paving, which eventually won the contract, on Feb. 13 was beyond the statutory five-day window to protest and, therefore, “there is no protest to consider.”
Gonzalez issued a writ of mandamus requiring the commission to reexamine the bids for the widening of the beltway from Tenaya Way to Decatur Boulevard.
She granted a stay of her order, however, while Las Vegas Paving appeals to the state Supreme Court. Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. filed the suit on April 22, one day after commissioners awarded a $116.8 million construction contract to Las Vegas Paving.
Fisher had submitted a lower bid of $112.2 million, which Las Vegas Paving challenged at first on Feb. 2, which was within the five-day protest period.
That first letter argued that Fisher failed to list subcontractors in its bid. The county requested the information from Fisher, which responded by Feb. 10.
Las Vegas Paving filed a second protest letter claiming two of Fisher’s subcontractors lacked the proper state license to conduct highway construction.
Gonzalez said the second letter was a separate argument that was filed too late.
Wade Gochnour, attorney for Las Vegas Paving, said the second letter was an extension of the first.
He also argued that the commission has discretion to consider protests after the five-day rule in the interest of the public good, because the state statute does not specify what happens if they are filed after that period.
“The county can look at this and say the five days is a safe harbor rule,” Gochnour said.
Gonzalez did not address the argument Las Vegas Paving made in its second letter regarding the licenses required by the subcontractors.
Commissioners awarded the contract to Las Vegas Paving at its April 21 meeting. During that meeting, Deputy District Attorney Mary Miller confirmed Fisher’s bid met the standard criteria and should be accepted.
The board voted 6-1 to award the contract to Las Vegas Paving with Commissioner Larry Brown dissenting.
During today’s court hearing, Fisher’s attorney, Stanley Parry, said the state law does not give county commissions the discretion to ignore the five-day rule.
“Why they didn’t listen to their staff, why they didn’t listen to their district attorney is beyond me,” he said. “The rejection was inappropriate.”
The county’s attorney, Tom Dillard, said the county doesn’t have a rooted interest in which company receives the contract but does want to expedite the court proceedings to get the work started.
“There’s no evidence to suggest at all there was a sinister motive at play here,” he said.
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The Reid machine tries everything to save the money for their supporters. It's not fair, this money was suppose to go to Reid donors, no others are on the approved list. How did this travesty of politics happen? The Reid machine has a lot to answer for, somebody let millions escape the clutches.
The County Commisioners as usual do what they want when they want there should be an independant oversite of their rulings to see what is legal & not instead of having to defend these law suites. Also look at what companies get the contracts.... That would be Las Vegas Paving, Tiberti, & Sletten. The amazing part is someone should look at the projects after they are completed for work quality & cost over runs. Many times these LOW BIDDERS wind up getting payed more then the higher bidder because they get reajustments because of "UNFORSEEN" expenses or change orders, plus poor inspections or bad plans. Meaning poor inspections... plans not followed or errors not caught until after the job. Bad plans.... plans call for wrong wiring or material which the contractor knows is wrong but installs anyway then when completed it is found out the wrong stuff was used so the contractor is payed to rip out the bad & install the good. What a scam & a very poor job by our controlled media in town as anyone who has lived here over 5 yrs knows how things are runned yet you never hear this on the news or in the paper??? I guess the Mormon Mafia it alive & well.
LOL, got to love stupid government officials. LVP appealing, Fisher appealing. Reject all bids and rebid project and move this process forward.
By rebidding the project, taxpayer savings will be realized, defective design will be fixed before bid, a whole lot of savings and change orders would be kept to a bare minimum.
LVP will buy the job so they can keep the #1 logo and to prove a point, we're still #1. Fisher will bid lower just to prove their point and Frehner will seek materials outside of Aggregate Industries so they can too be in the running. Bids would come in around 85 million. Bottom line; here is another group of contractors beating their hands on the chest like a bunch of monkeys in the jungle to prove their point.
This is going to last for years unless the County rejects all bids and no wins except the lawyers. Get real and do what is right, reject and rebid the project.
bout time someone steps up. Who is this Judge? we should all slip some money in an envelope to them for saving us tax payers a few million and giving someone else a shot a building our roads. LAS VEGAS PAVING COMPANY STINKS!
lessthanjonnie:
You must be an ex-employee of LVP and couldn't hack it which is why you think they stink..they're just another company trying to keep people employed in this crappy recession.
And I'm sure the judge already had an envelope pushed her way by her buddy Stan Parry. They happen to know each other, so it's funny how everyone comments on thinking commissioners are getting paid off by LVP and don't see the other side.
its2hot:
LVP doesn't have to buy jobs, they legimately bid them just like every other company, and lose them as well just like other companies.
To everyone: Everyone seems to place all the blame on LVP for filing a bid protest, which they are entitled to do. Everyone talks about all the taxpayer money that would be saved with Fisher being the lowest bidder. It seems you have all been out of the loop..LVP has been called the Mormon Mafia several times..so what would you call Fisher and its officers.."The Tax Fraud Committing, Taxpayer Cheating, Child Pornography Having" Saints? Maybe if the LV Sun would post some of those articles and indictments, you would think twice about who you associate with being a criminal Mob.
Las Vegas Paving should accept they lost the bid and move on and so we get these roads started and repaired. This is ridiculous!! What happened to the rules, just because we are in an recession doesn't mean they don't apply. spend your time on bidding other jobs instead of holding up this one and with that 4.6 million, another big job could be created and more people could be employed! Move on Las Vegas Paving.
hello1
LVP isn't holding up this job. Fisher and their lawsuit did. Had Fisher followed the rules to begin with, it would have never gotten to this. You obviously dont' know squat about the construction industry. Just because LVP had a higher bid doesn't mean Fisher was the better one to do the job. Any company as well as the owner of the project can amass change orders that could add millions onto the lowest bid. Fisher and its officers should move on..to jail, where they belong.
I didn't know that LVP was the only qualified company to do work in this town. Because I thought the artical said that all the staff and the deputy district attorney Mary Miller approved everything. Thank you for your information on the construction industry. We are supposed to be creating jobs, more jobs and the more we spend on one job the less work for others.
Im so sick of everyone standing up for LVP! They think because their so big in Las Vegas they can bully their way around at these hearings. Fact of the matter is the commision had no right throwing out Fischer's bid in the first place. Not only was it 6mill cheaper they are actually quallified and they don't even need an A-2 license to do the job! All I have to say is F*** Las Vegas Paving and the MORMON MAFIA!!! GO FISCHER!!!
As well I am sick of everything being about Fisher..Not Fischer..maybe you should know who you're supporting. LVP didn't bully anyone. They submitted a bid protest which they are fully entitled to do. The commission has the authority to do whatever the F*ck they want. Deal with it. And it was 4 million dipsh*t. No one questioned Fisher being qualified, it was their subs. Maybe you should figure out what it is you are arguing before you open your pie hole. Maybe you can go visit their tax fraud committing vp and cfo, and their past child porn loving president. I'm sure they would appreciate the visit. I would rather a project be awarded to a company that doesn't defraud us taxpaying citizens, but that's just me. You obviously support a company that commits federal offenses, and must work for them, or be almost out of work, or you wouldn't care so much. Whether they are Mormon, Catholic or atheist has not a d*mn thing to do with this. So F U and your buddies FISHER!
LV1
You mean to tell me that when the County rejects the bids and the project rebids LVP won't drop the price just to prove a point?
I find that hard to believe knowing what I understand in the industry. It is about being right not making money at this point in the game.
No one is placing blame on LVP, it is about the County and their choice and how they went about awarding the bid. They should've rejected all bids and avoid this long drawn out legal process and move on and award so work. They knew the consequences of their choice yet they opted to put stupidity before logic. Hum?
I will say the argument used by LVP did confuse the politicians, brilliant at best. Knowing that they can never be found guilty of their choice and know they can blame the courts and staffers for not fully advising them before hand. What a crock but I do understand their choice, constituents.
Now the best part, the rebid process will result in millions upon millions in savings to the taxpayers. Kudos to all, we appreciate this very much.
As to the commissioners, vote the idiots out of office and put ones in that know what the hell they're doing. People, remember, when a true politician speaks they speak with forked tongue and truths not to offend anyone and them speaks in half truths and riddle. Vote
Everyone needs to listen to me . I am a state construction engineer. Las vegas paving must not be allowed to win this project or they will throw the lowest bidder process out the window. Just this week las vegas paving was awarded a 250 million dollar design build project with NDOT. Las vegas paving already has the first phase of this job for a another 270 million dollars. They also also won the cheyenne mill and pave project with ndot last week 9.5 million. What is next just hand over all goverment projects to these corrupt and cowboy pay off artists. You people have no idea how deep this goes. Las vegas paving has enough work !!! Half a billion is not bad.
Hello everyone its your friendly state engineer with some more LAS VEGAS PAVING MAFIA news. It turns out that lv paving was 4.5 million less than Granite Construction on the recent awarded design build south project. Lv pave was at 245 million dollars and Granite was about 250 million dollars. Now we both know that carson city found a way to award to lv pave the new contract , But i was just wondering why doesnt Granite file a lawsuit against lv paveing. I mean that is what all the general contractors are talking about in the valley, submit your best bid then sue if not awarded. I promise you this red neck s**t is being watched by all state engineers. The rougher times get the harder it will be for the corrupt county to pull this off. AWARD TO FISHER!!! or join DARRIO and ERIN in the slammer. ELECTED THIEFS
blah blah blah c jagger..
these are not the only projects out there to be bid, and lvp does not win them all.
If LVP was the lowest bidder on the south design build and there was something to protest Granite would. Carson City did find a way to award it..it's called being the "lowest responsive responsible bidder". Being Mr. State Engineer you should be familiar with the term. If there was nothing wrong with LVP's bid it should be awarded to them, and if there was something wrong someone would protest. Well they haven't, so be it.
Corrupt..I don't hear LVP's current or former officers being indicted on federal charges (FISHER), so choose wisely who you cast the Mafia label upon. They don't have to pay off commissioners, they win jobs legitimately. You can't just sue willy nilly without a legal basis.
You don't get to dictate how much work LVP gets to bid and perform. It's a free country!!
And YOU have no idea how deep anything goes or doesn't so put a sock in it.
Lowest bidder! Do you realy think im not familiar with the bidding process. Ok lets just get you up to speed i am a PE that means professional engineer so dont think for one minute that you have a grasp on construction that i dont, so when you see that door close at that meeting that your GED wont let you in I CLOSED IT!!! Next retard a design build is not awarded to the lowest bidder so already your are fired!!! My point i was getting at was that Paving sues when they dont win so why not do the same. But i'm sure you are another labor who is married to a daughter of someone at lv pave and you have the pickup with the big tires and the house with the land and horses that you cant afford so you thought you chime in. Well dont because corruption is behind closed doors and not outside in a 110 degrees. YOU ARE A PAWN !!
PE= Partially Educated.
by ndot 30 yr veteran...