Bidding Process

Remember the furor that surrounded the state's lucrative computer contract for the lottery agency last year?An even bigger controversy is about to break loose, one that has some state officials alarmed.What's involved are attempts to tamper with the state's procurement system and heavy-handed intervention by legislators on behalf of one bidder for the state's new vehicle emissions inspection program (VEIP).How heavy-handed? State transportation officials have been threatened with retribution at next year's General Assembly session if they don't hand the VEIP contract over to this bidder.

Baltimore County Councilman John A. Olszewski Sr. claims his failure to disclose his outside employment was an oversight, but that does not pass the smell test ("County councilman hasn't disclosed outside jobs for years," May 19). Disclosure forms are very clear and do not require a college degree to fill out. The questions are quite clear and specifically ask about outside employment. Being on the council and having privileged information could give council people an advantage in the bidding process for their employer.

Public Service Commission Chairman Kenneth D. Schisler offered yesterday to provide a confidential briefing to key legislators who have raised questions about the bidding process that resulted in the pending 72 percent increase in BGE electric bills. Schisler made the offer to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch in response to questions they sent last week to officials at BGE and its corporate parent, Constellation Energy Group. Schisler said he wanted to assure them that the bidding process that resulted in the higher rates was fair and designed to produce the lowest possible prices for consumers.

Baltimore officials awarded $1.8 million in contracts for the city's lucrative towing business on Wednesday, ending a practice that had allowed a small circle of companies to bypass the city's competitive bidding system for decades. City Councilman Robert W. Curran said the contracts approved Wednesday by the Board of Estimates mean some towing companies "will be losing significant percentages of their tows and conducting tows at reduced rates," a benefit for the city and its taxpayers.

An upset Gov. William Donald Schaefer defended how the Maryland State Lottery Agency awarded a $65 million computer contract but said he would appoint an "outside individual" this week to review the bidding process.The governor assailed newspaper reports and an editorial that he said carried misleading "innuendoes" that some subcontractors to the firm that won the lottery contract -- including a man who has said he once ran an illegal numbers operation in Baltimore -- stand to benefit because they are his friends.

Concern about the perception of possible bid-tampering has prompted the Schmoke administration to seek a revision in the bidding process for highly competitive and often lucrative city contracts.Mayor Kurt Schmoke agreed to a request that he seek the change, but he says he fears it could threaten the constitutionality of the city's minority set-aside law. The proposed change would affect the way prime contractors select minority subcontractors under the minority set-aside law.The set-aside law requires prime contractors to give minority subcontractors work equaling 20 percent of the bid. Three percent of the bid is earmarked for firms owned by women.

The manufacturer of Maryland's medevac helicopters is protesting the state's effort to replace the aging fleet, alleging that the bidding process favors another company and would add to the program's cost. State officials have budgeted more than $50 million to buy new helicopters, and bids from manufacturers were due last month. American Eurocopter has filed a formal protest with the state Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the procurement of the aircraft, and wrote a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller called on a slots commission yesterday to consider tossing out all bids submitted to build casinos around the state and starting over. The startling suggestion from a powerful lawmaker underscores frustration in Annapolis with the outcome of this week's bidding process, which resulted in six proposals to install fewer than half of the 15,000 slot machines authorized by voters last fall. Two of six bidders failed to put up more than $20 million in required licensing fees.

A Friday Opinion * Commentary page article about a community forum last month on regionalism, which was sponsored by The Sun, incorrectly attributed some remarks to ++ Ioanna T. Morfessis, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Baltimore Alliance. The statement concerning a trip to Stockholm during the bidding process for the Olympics should have been attributed to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 12/06/98

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Friday the hiring of a new chief technology officer to replace the official who resigned amid ethics concerns in February. Chris Tonjes, the chief information officer for the District of Columbia Public Library, was chosen after a national search, the mayor's office said. He will start work July 23 in Baltimore. "We are excited to announce the appointment of a qualified and forward-thinking individual to oversee an increasingly important government agency," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Friday the hiring of a new chief technology officer to replace the official who resigned amid ethics concerns in February. Chris Tonjes, the chief information officer for the District of Columbia Public Library, was chosen after a national search, the mayor's office said. He will start work July 23 in Baltimore. "We are excited to announce the appointment of a qualified and forward-thinking individual to oversee an increasingly important government agency," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.

HMSHost Corp., a Bethesda-based travel hospitality firm, filed a lawsuit Friday in an attempt to block the state's award to another company of a contract to rebuild and run Maryland's two major travel plazas on Interstate 95. The lawsuit alleges that Areas USA and the state negotiated terms during the bid process, while HMSHost was not given that opportunity. Areas USA, a Miami-based company, won the bid last month. The Maryland Board of Public Works is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the contract.

The second of two losing bidders for the multimillion-dollar contract to replace and run Maryland's two Interstate 95 travel plazas has filed a protest with the Maryland Transportation Authority over the way it handled the bidding process. Airport Plazas LLC and Tishman Construction, joint bidders for the project, claim the authority allowed Areas USA, the winning bidder, to ignore some of the requirements contained in the request for proposals. They also claim the authority then allowed Areas USA to sweeten its offer without extending that opportunity to the competition.

The town of Sykesville is hoping nature and its power will be the answer to some of its power problems. Whether it be geothermal, wind or solar power, town officials are collecting bid proposals to create a renewable energy source for the town's use at the Public Works Building, the Sykesville Police Station and the Sykesville Town House. Tapping a renewable energy source is an idea town officials have been talking about for the past six years, according to town manager Matt Candland.

Annapolis city officials plan to establish a formal bidding process for operation of the city's historic Market House, after a Baltimore-based developer slated to transform the ailing market pulled out of a proposed lease with the city, citing overwhelming community opposition. The Annapolis City Council was poised to vote on whether to approve the proposed 30-year lease agreement between the city and developer Lehr Jackson, through Gone to Market LLC., on Monday night. Mayor Joshua J. Cohen, a strong proponent of the plan, had enough votes on the council to win approval, but Jackson, who has developed public markets across the country, informed Cohen late Monday afternoon that he would not continue in the process.

The Maryland Transportation Authority has canceled the bidding for a contract to redevelop and manage its two travel plazas along the toll stretch of Interstate 95 in northeast Maryland, deciding to go back to the drawing board rather than continue with a solicitation it had to revise repeatedly. Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley said the state is committed a public-private partnership to redevelop the aging Maryland House and Chesapeake House on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.

The Howard County school system today will accept bids for kindergarten bus routes for next school year after a Howard County Circuit Court judge yesterday rejected an attempt by local school bus contractors to halt the process.Judge James B. Dudley refused to grant the bus contractors an immediate injunction to stop the bidding for the 50 routes, on which half-day morning kindergarten students travel home and afternoon kindergarten students go to school.A request for a permanent injunction to stop the process is pending.

Blind Industries subject to bidding process, court rules A nonprofit corporation for the blind has no claim to preferential treatment for state purchases of millions of dollars in office supplies, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday. The Court of Appeals said that although the law says that the state should buy goods from Blind Industries and Services of Maryland whenever possible, that does not apply to supplies for which Blind Industries acts only as a distributor or retailer. The court said the law applies to goods and services Blind Industries already provides, not those it proposes to handle.

A Clarksville couple with development connections is negotiating to buy the former Gateway School building on Route 108 and redevelop the lot. They envision a mixture of commercial offices, retail and a green boutique hotel. George and Holly Stone were chosen from among six finalists to redevelop the site, where a county-owned, 7.8-acre complex of former school buildings just across the road from the River Hill Village Center is being demolished. Holly Stone is a vice president of Percontee Inc., a Silver Spring building materials and quarry firm owned by the family of her father, the late Homer Gudelsky, a prominent Washington developer.

American Eurocopter, the manufacturer of Maryland's medevac fleet, has dropped its protest of the state's bidding process to acquire new helicopters that are expected to cost more than $50 million. The company, which did not submit a bid, had filed a formal protest saying the process was flawed because it favored another company and would lead to the purchase of helicopters that are more expensive than necessary. The Maryland Department of Transportation denied American Eurocopter's protest last month.