"Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Airport Administrators Revisit Contract-Bidding Process"

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Airport Administrators Revisit Contract-Bidding
Process
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


Repaving the main runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Airport is a lucrative job worth $11 million, but almost no one wants
the work.

Airport administrators notified more than 400 companies of the project,
but Hialeah-based Community Asphalt Corp. was the only one to put in a
bid. The lack of competition raised concerns among county commissioners
who have long been attacked for overseeing a contracting process rife
with politics and lacking fairness.

But commissioners agreed to give the work to Community Asphalt on
Tuesday, convinced that other firms did not want to bid because the
contract sets high penalties if the work is not done on time.

Officials wanted the penalties to minimize the disruption to the airline
industry and nearby neighborhoods.

"We took a look at this again, and I'm satisfied we followed all
procedures," said County Commissioner John Rodstrom, the commission's
liaison to the airport. "There is no point going back out to bid just to
get the same results."

During the repaving in September, the main runway will be closed
around-the-clock for 16 days and closed at night only for another 16
days. Commercial airlines will use the smaller diagonal runway, a
takeoff and landing pattern that puts planes directly over neighborhoods
in Dania Beach and southwest Fort Lauderdale.

Residents and the airlines demanded a timetable with the least
disruption. When large planes use the diagonal runway, they must fly
with fewer passengers and the roar from the jets can be so loud as to
disturb surrounding homeowners.

County Finance Director Phil Allen told commissioners in a memo that
other contractors said they could not commit the labor required to meet
the contract requirements or could not pay the damages if the schedule
was not met. Community Asphalt, on the other hand, felt comfortable with
the requirements because it was in charge of the last repaving of the
runway 15 years ago.

The company bid $11.4 million for the work, about $400,000 less than
what county engineers estimated it would cost.

"We're working with a very tight schedule to minimize the impacts to the
homeowners," County Administrator Roger Desjarlais said. "We wanted it
done quickly and thus have substantial damage charges.

They were the only ones willing to take the risk."

The county has long faced criticism that it does not fairly distribute
the millions of dollars in contracts it doles out every year to
businesses. Coming under scrutiny have been deals for airport taxi
service, construction inspections and voting machines, but commissioners
have been undertaking a sweeping overhaul that promises greater
oversight and more stringent requirements.

Randy Dunlap, a southwest Fort Lauderdale resident challenging Rodstrom
for his commission seat in an August primary, and the city's liaison to
the airport, stood behind the county's desire to ensure a quick
repaving.

"There were tough choices to make on how to go about this, and the
neighborhoods wanted it done as quickly as possible with the least
number of nighttime overflights," Dunlap said. "They wanted it done and
over with."


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