City staff rebid the proposal following council's Feb. 11 decision and received five bids in return. City Attorney Charles Zech said the inconsistencies in the first round of bidding were related to its advertising placements.
The roughly 18-month construction process entails the installation of 16,000 feet of sewer interceptor pipe along SH 130 and to the removal of Pflugerville Parkway Lift Station. City staff again disqualified the lowest bidder, Excel Aircraft LLC, due to the company's low rating from Dun & Bradstreet, a commercial data and insights corporation.
Jon Rowan of Rowan Law Firm serves as general counsel for Excel and said he thought it would be "shortsighted" of council to throw out its bid, listed at approximately $659,000 less than S. J. Louis'. Rowan said he felt the low rating from the corporation was unjustified, alleging that it was a "pay to play" system with construction firms paying for higher ratings.
Darren Strozewski of DCS Engineering LLC said he has used Dun & Bradstreet's metrics for 15-20 years and trusts its guidance in construction bidding processes. The contract agreement to S. J. Louis was approved 6-1 by council, with Council Member Doug Weiss voting against the motion.
