Questions over firm picked for Superdome might cause delay volume 8, issue 26, page 15 by Brent Baird

When bids were accepted for the renovation of the Superdome from the damage caused by hurricane Katrina there was a provision to the process that apparently one company overlooked. The process required any company submitting a bid to disclose and projects that had caused litigation to be enacted. Leo A. Daly did not disclose to the selection board that he was currently suing the city of Atlanta for firing the firm for the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport project. The city had fired the firm due to the project being turned in late and highly over budget. Then once the the firm had found out that the Louisiana group had found out about the litigation it promptly reported the situation.

Now the Louisiana officials will be meeting and hold hearing to decide if the project should be re-bid.

I can see where such a provision can and should include in projects of this size and scope, especially if tax payer money is involved. I believe groups should know what the “track record” is of companies that want to complete such projects. This would probably save a lot of time and money be giving committees and boards a better sense of the work produced by the companies that are contending for various projects.

The officials have set a deadline of 60 calendar day for the project to be completed. Under such time limitations having information about such law suits would be helpful for the board to make the right decision. Now that board will have to make another decision if it feels that their history of this firm is ok and if it trusts it due to it’s recent actions.