Much-Disputed New Orleans Flood Job Goes to Kiewit Team

Nearly 18 months after bid protests, a court challenge and a forced rebid delayed the award of a massive permanent flood-control job in New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers said on Sept. 28 that a Kiewit Corp.-led team has won the $629.5-million design-build contract. The project was set to finish in 2014 but now won't be done until mid-2016, says the Corps.

Winning team PCCP Constructors, which includes Traylor Bros. and M.R. Pittman Group LLC, was one of two original bidders that protested the April 2011 award to CBY Design-Builders, a CDM Smith-led team. Bechtel Infrastructure also protested. The Government Accountability Office upheld the protests and ordered the rebid; CBY challenged that ruling in the U.S. Court of Claims. The court upheld the reprocurement, agreeing with GAO on the need for changes in technical and price terms in bid documents but dismissing a conflict-of-interest allegation against CBY. The Corps would not confirm that all original bidders rebid, but contenders also included CBY, Weston and Archer Western Contractors, says a published report.