Two firms competing for a program and construction-management contract under Miami-Dade County's federally mandated sewer-repairs project are at odds. AECOM Technical Services and CH2M Hill are accusing each other of improprieties during bidding for the $1.6-billion project.
AECOM fired the first shot, asserting that CH2M Hill violated Miami-Dade's ethics rules and standard procurement practices by sending hundreds of pages of proposal documentation directly to county officials prior to a Tier 2 presentation before a committee assembled on Aug. 28, 2013, to rank the two competing firms. That committee ranked CH2M Hill as the top choice to handle the work, according to a Sept. 6, 2013, Miami-Dade Internal Services Dept. memo seeking authorization to begin negotiations with the firm.