Bid protest affects Longboat Key beach project

As the town of Longboat Key finishes up the first phase of its mid-island beach renourishment, plans for two more sand projects have hit a roadblock.

Ferreira Construction Southern Division Co. Inc. has formally protested the town’s choice of Norfolk Dredging Co. to undertake the dredging of Longboat Pass and New Pass to expand Key shorelines. The latter firm submitted a $5.7 million bid for the project, which was roughly $780,000 less than Norfolk’s offer.

“Ferreira protests the bid for several reasons, which all require that the recommendation of award be set aside, that the entire solicitation be cancelled or that the subject project be rebid to correct the errors and/or omissions referenced herein,” wrote attorney Michael Gore in an April 26 letter to Mayor Jack Duncan.

Town Manager Dave Bullock will now appoint a three-member committee to consider the protest, which should meet with Ferreira representatives within 10 workdays from April 26. If the two parties can’t find a resolution, Bullock will then have another 10 workdays to make a decision about whether to sustain or deny the protest.

“We’ll move it along pretty quickly,” Bullock said. “These things don’t drag out too much.”

In selecting Norfolk Dredging, Purchasing Manager Kari Kennedy disqualified the lowest bidder for not submitting a waiver from the U.S. Coast Guard to do work in regulated areas. Town staff also determined Ferreira wouldn’t be able to handle the renourishment based on examples of similar projects the company submitted with its bid.

“Based upon the examples presented and the lack of the required waiver, Ferreira has not demonstrated it has the requisite experience operating the proposed dredge in the sea states expected to be experienced on the exposed ebb shoal platforms of New Pass and Longboat Pass,” Kennedy wrote in an April 22 memo.

Gore in his letter to Duncan said his client did not need a Coast Guard waiver because the firm’s dredging vessel is less than 79 feet long. And he also contends that the town’s criteria for a contractor is subjective.

“We request that you take action to override the arbitrary and irrational excuses to reject the lowest bidder, Ferreira,” Gore wrote.