There’s a pretty good article in today’s Star Tribune by Mike Kaszuba that talks about the protest that is being filed by the construction companies that did not get the contracts to rebuild the I-35W bridge. Click here to read the article: “Were savvy firms duped or outsmarted?” So which would you you rather be described as: Duped or Outsmarted? Not a great choice either way.
Is it sour grapes? One has to wonder. Were the locals thinking the contract was going their way, because they were locals? Or, were they thinking that they had made enough contributions to enough state legislative campaigns that MnDOT would go their way regardless of the official process? Or, did they think that the traditional method of government contracting of awarding the bid to the “lowest responsible bidder” would prevail again, despite the fact that MnDOT’s bidding instructions for this project were very clear that they were not awarding this contract on that basis?
It’s hard to say. But what isn’t hard to say is that it’s too bad that MnDOT is now going to have to spend time and energy chasing its tail in the media, in the courts and probably in the Legislature defending its project bidding procedures rather than getting actual work done. The rules of the process were clear. They were in writing. And, yes, there are costs to putting together a bid of this complex nature and it’s disappointing when you don’t win the contract. But that’s why MnDOT paid each bidder $500,000 to cover their costs in preparing the bids. That ought to be enough.
From what I’ve seen and know about the roads and bridges in our state, there’s going to be enough money spent by MnDOT over the next decade to go around for everybody in the construction business. So let’s quit grumbling and get to work to fix the transportation infrastructure of this state.
