A Texas-based contractor has filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department over the department’s cancellation of a $77.6-million bridge contract for alleged failure to document disadvantaged business enterprise involvement efforts. The department has made a claim against the contractor’s bid bond.
The contractor, Roanoke, Texas-based Johnson Bros. Corp., had in January submitted a very low bid to replace a bridge carrying highway I-40 over the White River between Little Rock and North Little Rock. The second-low bid came in about $40 million higher.