The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors is taking up a challenge this morning to the lucrative contract to manage the state’s $1.6 billion flood recovery program, Restore Louisiana.
Earlier this month, the state selected a joint-venture team headed by IEM to be its program manager for the flood recovery program. The company, which was formerly based in Baton Rouge but has since relocated to North Carolina, heads a team that includes several well-known local and national contractors, including Providence Engineering, Roy Anderson Corp., CORE Construction, Sparkhound, Emergent Method, Postlethwaite & Netterville, and Baker Donelson.
Its $250 million proposal for the contract was the lowest submitted and about $65 million less than the next lowest bidder.
An equally heavy hitting team, however, is challenging IEM’s award on the grounds that IEM did not have a commercial contractor’s license in the state when it submitted its proposal. The challenger, PDRM, is a newly-created joint venture that’s headed by CSRS and includes H2Bravo and GOTECH.
IEM CEO Mahdu Beriwal says the challenge is unfair because several members of IEM’s team have commercial contractor’s licenses and the company itself has since applied and received one.
“We have one of the largest contractors in the country on our team,” Beriwal says. “They are trying to say we didn’t have a license when we bid, but we got one yesterday and, anyway, we didn’t bid. We proposed on a professional services contract.”
CSRS President Tim Barfield, however, says the law is clear on the issue.
“The only reason we filed the challenge is because Louisiana law has been very constant that you have to have a contractor’s license when you submit a proposal or make a bid and not just after you win,” he says. “It’s that simple.”
The board is expected to make a decision on the issue later this morning, though it will likely not be the last word on the challenge. Both sides say they will appeal whatever decision is handed down, and ultimately the matter could wind up in court.
—Stephanie Riegel
