"Grumbling on just the price as a component of a best-value competition is maybe off-base," he adds.

But Ward, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, also accuses Metro of using subjective technical scoring. Metro officials testified that, despite DAS's lower price and pledge to complete the project six months early, the joint venture's bid scored lower because the team's project manager "did not meet the minimum requisite requirements for experience on this project," the proposal illustrated "a weak understanding of the overall project" and the construction approach was not supported by a thoroughly detailed schedule, which "exposes Metro to a high probability of cost and schedule risk."

However, in its protest, the Dragados-led team claims Metro staff engaged in "unfair and misleading discussions" and "mischaracterized DAS's brand and expertise." The protest goes on to say that, during oral presentations, Metro staff "aggressively criticized" its proposal, which resulted in DAS's "submission of an alternative proposal that omitted innovative and cost-saving approaches and excluded certain DAS personnel from its proposal."

The protest also characterizes Metro's assertion that the proposed project manager and deputy project manager lacked requisite experience as "clearly false," citing the pair's 50 years of experience in the industry.

"As one of the premier tunnel companies in the world, it's important for Dragados to protect its brand name," Ward says. "With some reluctance we are protesting, but Dragados stands by its worldwide record and its capacity and the bid we submitted."

Don Knabe, one of three board members to vote against the contract award, warned that Metro could be putting "all the eggs in one basket" by selecting the same firms for concurrent major projects. Skanska and Traylor recently were awarded a $927-million contract to build the Regional Connector light-rail project. In addition, Skanska is constructing the Expo Line in Santa Monica for Metro in a joint venture with Rados Cos., and J.F. Shea is building Metro's $1.27-billion Crenshaw-LAX Transit Corridor Project.

Victor Ramirez, Metro deputy executive officer of procurement, said at the hearing that the projects have different time lines and that similar job functions do not overlap. He also argued that having the same project manager on both the Regional Connector and the Purple Line would create "added value," which "strengthens the overall project team."

Knabe and other council members also alluded to a possible back-room "whisper campaign" against Dragados due to the firm's being one of the contractors involved with the stalled tunnel-boring machine at the state Route 99 tunnel in Seattle. Metro officials say the Seattle project was not considered during scoring because Washington Dept. of Transportation officials did not respond to Metro's request for more information about the project's difficulties.

"For any owner, the issue with Seattle is, who is the contractor who sticks with the job and makes sure it gets done," Ward says. "Dragados and its team are not walking away from the job. Our commitment is to work through risks and problems and deliver the job for the owner at the end of the day. That's what L.A. metro should have focused on."

Metro has 45 days to evaluate the protests. If the protests are rejected, the protestors have five days to appeal to Metro's chief executive officer. If that petition is also rejected, the protestors may have further options: appeal to the Federal Transit Administration or pursue litigation.