Marlins Stadium Bid Rules Posing New Hurdle

By Yudislaidy Fernandez
A stadium deal for the Florida Marlins could return to square one if two city commissioners keep a pledge to reject waiving competitive bidding for infrastructure work for the ballpark.

The city commission does not have the required four-fifths vote to allow a no-bid contract to go to Hunt/Moss, which the Marlins selected to do infrastructure work as well as build the stadium.

County Manager George Burgess warned that a failure to name Hunt/Moss the contractor for the infrastructure would cost the city and county many cost-overrun protections contained in the proposed contract. In that arrangement, Hunt/Moss guaranteed it would do the infrastructure work for $25 million.

Without the cost overrun protections, the whole construction agreement would have to be renegotiated, Mr. Burgess said in a Friday memo. "Please be mindful that many of the protections described in this memorandum with respect to cost overruns are dependent upon the selection by the county and the city of Hunt/Moss as the construction manager for the public infrastructure."

City commissioners Marc Sarnoff and Tomás Regalado said this week they won’t vote to waive bidding. They say they want to give local construction companies a fair swing at the major public project.

Mr. Sarnoff said the work might cost less than $25 million. "The best way to know what something is going to cost is to do an RFQ (request for qualifications)."

Mr. Regalado said he is not persuaded by the Marlins’ promise to open more of the work to local companies. "I think everyone should get to participate."

He added he is displeased that the Marlins are using the prospect of cost overruns to justify the bid waiver. Advertisement