A contractor that submitted the low bid for a construction project at Washington Irvington Intermediate School in Tarrytown claims that its bid was improperly rejected.
GL Group Inc., of Fairfield, New Jersey, petitioned Westchester Supreme Court on May 27 to compel the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns to give it the contract.
GL Group also wants the court to declare that the school district’s rejection of its bid was “improper, arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law.”
However, the project manager for the firm managing the project stated in an affidavit that GL Group failed to demonstrate enough experience to handle the work.
The school district is replacing concrete bleachers, installing artificial turf, and making other improvements at Washington Irving school.
Proposals were opened on April 8.
GL Group bid $2.9 million. The only other bidder, Abbott & Price Inc., of Millwood, came in nearly 8% higher, at $3,129,852.
The next day, Arris Contracting Company Inc., a Poughkeepsie firm managing the project, asked GL Group for more information, according to the petition. Arris’ project manager, Chris Hanaburgh, questioned GL Group’s experience with site work and concrete work.
GL Group says it pointed out that it intended to subcontract sitework and concrete work to an experienced contractor.
Hanaburgh allegedly told GL Group that he “preferred” B&B Concrete Enterprises Inc. of Nanuet, and suggested that he may change his views if GL Group chose B&B.
GL Group negotiated a subcontract with B&B and notified Arris Contracting, the petition states. “Nevertheless, that was not enough for Mr. Hanaburgh.”
Arris Contracting allegedly asked GL Group to withdraw its bid for lack of experience, and if it didn’t its bid would be declared non-responsive.
Hanaburgh described the Washington Irving Field & Bleacher Project as complex, including construction of concrete bleachers with walls 16 feet high and 18 inches wide.
After the bids were opened, the contractors had to demonstrate their experience by providing details of five comparable projects completed in the past five years.
One of GL Group’s past projects was completed more than five years ago, Hanaburgh noted, and he concluded that the firm’s past work was not comparable to the Tarrytown project.
“I did not demand that GL Group withdraw its bid,” he stated in his affidavit. And he noted that Arris had never before worked with the other bidder, Abbott & Price.
On May 20, the schools’ board of trustees rejected GL Group’s bid and awarded the contract to Abbott & Price Inc., according to the petition, “based on Arris’s recommendation.”
