The contractor, GPPC, was among the three companies that submitted bids and was awarded the contract in July.
One of the losing bidders, Seafix Inc., filed a protest, which CPA denied. Bu the agency also decided to cancel the original request for proposals and announce a new RFP which now includes the supply of backup power to the airport rescue firefighting facility and the air traffic control tower.
Mark B. Hanson, GPPC’s attorney, asked the board to complete the award of contract and issue a notice to proceed to his client.
“GPPC believes that the…decision to cancel the RFP is not in the best interest of the CPA,” the lawyer said in a letter to CPA Chairman Jose Lifoifoi.
CPA solicited RFPs for the project in May and three companies responded — GPPC, Seafix Inc. and Tano Group.
Hanson said CPA had informed the Federal Aviation Administration about the decision to award the contract to GPPC.
The company’s $2.08 million proposal, he added, was found most advantageous to CPA and was about $1.1 million less than the next highest priced proposal and about $2.4 million less than the Seafix’s proposal.
Hanson said GPPC has already incurred “substantial expenses” at CPA’s direction.
GPPC expects to be reimbursed for its expenses, including the costs of preparing and submitting its proposal.
“There is no suggestion nor any finding that GPPC acted in any way fraudulently or in bad faith,” he said. “There was also no finding that this RFP or the CPA’s award to GPPC was a violation of any law or regulation.”
Additionally, he said, “there is no reason why the inclusion of the ARFF and the tower in the backup power grid of the airpor could not be accomplished as a separate project procured by a separate RFP.”
He noted the urgency of the generator procurement, adding that a new RFP will take another four months to complete. “GPPC is ready to proceed with the project as originally conceived. All bonding and insurance is in place and GPPC has signed and delivered a contract. CPA could very easily proceed with the project and issue a new RFP that would tie-in the ARFF and the tower to the SIA backup power grid. This approach will save time, will save money.”
