The Baltimore Development Corporation, the city's quasi-public development arm, over the past year and a half awarded six contracts totaling $2.3 million to demolish buildings without publicly advertising the work, documents have revealed.
Each of the six contracts was worth more than $25,000, the amount that is supposed to trigger public notice when work is requested by city agencies. Instead, the BDC asked companies for their prices, and, in the case of two contracts - including one for $1.5 million - did not award the work to the firm offering the lowest price. The BDC was in the process seeking a seventh contract - this time for warehouses occupied by a nonprofit - when The Baltimore Sun reported on the practice last month.
The list of contracts includes four that were not known publicly. It is the first full accounting of demolition work initiated by the BDC, which in theory is supposed to only make recommendations about development to the mayor and City Council, not actually engage in public works.
At the request of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, the BDC has halted the practice of bulldozing buildings, including rescinding a $1.5 million contract that had been awarded to knock down eight buildings on a downtown block. The BDC also curtailed the search for a firm to demolish a cluster of warehouses at the site for a garage for the proposed slots casino.
In each instance, the BDC contacted anywhere from two to eight demolition firms and asked them to submit prices on the work. For each contract, the BDC included at least one minority-owned firm in its list.
"I just believe that it is better to have an open and public process," Dixon said. "They should be transparent and be sure that all people get those opportunities" to win contracts.
The mayor said she has faith in the agency, particularly what she called its strong board of directors, and viewed the demolitions as a rare instance where she said the BDC moved "more quickly than they should have without checking things or fully vetting them."
Each of the awarded contracts was approved by the city's housing commissioner, Paul T. Graziano, who said that he had believed the BDC followed the city's procurement rules when he signed off. Though the BDC is technically a nonprofit, its authority to negotiate on behalf of the city comes from the housing department.
The deals were also approved by the city's Board of Estimates, which rarely engages in public debate about spending unless a contractor raises concerns about an award.
