Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson is upholding his decision to award a $5 million planning contract for a new Mississippi River bridge to a Texas-based company with local ties.
Global engineering firm AECOM had appealed Wilson’s decision to override the scoring of his own technical selection committee and award the contract to Atlas Technical Consultants, which scored 12 points behind AECOM and was ranked third of three finalists for the job.
But in a letter dated Jan. 31, Wilson says he is sticking by his original decision, noting that the technical selection criteria did not take into consideration the thoughts and opinions of the Capital Area Road and Bridge District (CARB-D) or of regional leaders.
“CARB-D and the parish leaders have expressed the desire for interaction with the consultant and project manager that rises to a level greater than the traditional project,” Wilson writes. “This consideration was not included in the technical evaluation and is appropriately considered at the level of the Secretary.”
In an interview in mid-January with Daily Report, CARB-D Board Chairman Jay Campbell said Wilson had discussed the three finalists with board members individually but that the board as a whole had not made any recommendations to the secretary.
“We did not say we endorse candidate one, two or three but the secretary wanted input and impressions about each of the candidates,” Campbell said at the time. “For me to engage in any opinion is irrelevant at this point. It would be much more to my liking to ensure that they do what they say they are going to do.”
Atlas Technical Consultants is owned by businessman Jim Bernhard’s local private equity firm Bernhard Capital Partners. Bernhard has been an advocate of a new bridge, campaigning for a tax to fund development of local connecting arteries and suggesting BCP could help finance construction of the span.
Wilson stresses in his letter to AECOM that his decision to go with Atlas was “fair and unbiased.”
“While the law gives me latitude concerning the shortlist, I do not make these decisions arbitrarily or within a vacuum,” he writes. “I expend my authority concerning selection very judiciously with the welfare of the state, infrastructure and industry in mind.”
In the letter, Wilson also defends another reason he listed in his original decision to award the contract to Atlas, namely its experience with complex urban projects.
“Your correspondence raises ire concerning the selected team’s experience versus AECOM,” Wilson writes to AECOM. However, my comments were not just limited to the prime but extends to the entire team and the work they have done.”
Among the members on the Atlas team is FIGG Engineers, which has been blamed by the National Transportation Safety Board for its role in the 2018 collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Florida and has since been pulled off two major bridge projects in Texas.
Wilson does not address FIGG’s problems in his letter.
Atlas has defended FIGG’s work. FIGG has denied culpability in the Florida bridge collapse.
AECOM says it respects Wilson’s decision and will not pursue further challenges to the award in court.
(Editor’s Note: This story has been revised from an earlier version to correct the name of CARB-D Board Chairman Jay Campbell. Daily Report regrets the error.)
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