By: Douglas Soule, Staff Writer | Posted: May 25, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
The Kanawha County Board of Education voted during a Friday special session to remove a previous motion that required the West Virginia School Building Authority board’s approval for a contract to demolish Herbert Hoover High School.
“I think we need to go ahead and move forward with the demolition of Herbert Hoover,” Kanawha board member Ryan White said during the meeting.
The contract allotted $382,777 to Charleston-based Rodney Loftis & Son Contracting, even though a lower bid of $338,888 was offered by Baltimore- and Fairmont-based Reclaim Co. LLC.
As a result, Reclaim filed a protest against the county school board and the SBA, said Jim Withrow, general counsel for Kanawha schools.
On May 10, the school board voted to give Rodney Loftis & Son the demolition project, but added an amendment that required the SBA board to give approval to the contract, as well.
At the time, White said he didn’t know why the SBA staff recommended against Reclaim’s bid.
“Our thought process was their staff is not accountable to us, so let’s have our approval be contingent on [the SBA board’s] approval, because their staff is accountable to them,” White said.
On Monday, the SBA board members on the Construction Committee decided not to put a vote on the demolition contract approval on future agendas, and board Executive Director David Roach also said he would not put the matter on an agenda.
A bid tabulation sheet provided with the special meeting’s agenda said that Reclaim was “disqualified per SBA recommendation.”
Reclaim wrote “not applicable” on a form where bidders must list the subcontractors and equipment/material suppliers they plan to use for a project.
While Reclaim legal representatives said May 10 that the company didn’t plan to use any subcontractors, the form says that, “if no subcontractors will be used to complete the project, indicate on the SBA Form 123 that all work will be self-performed and provide the name and contractor license number of the contractor that will be performing the work.”
The form also says the “SBA shall be the sole interpreter of this document to ensure that the information provided by the prime contractor meets the intent of the form.”
An SBA official said Reclaim also submitted this form to only the county, not the SBA, despite the wording at the top that said the form “must be submitted to the SBA within two hours of the close of bid.”
The bid protest filed by Reclaim argues that the form sent to the county was forwarded to the SBA and that irregularities in the form should have been waived for the lowest contract bidder.
The demolition project will be paid for by the SBA and Federal Emergency Management Agency flood recovery funds, Withrow said.
