Gloucester County's administration fast-tracked

 

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ — A South Jersey county violated New Jersey law by awarding a $5 million "emergency" contract for a project that didn't qualify under COVID-emergency regulations, a state watchdog said Thursday. Gloucester County's administration fast-tracked the bidding process during the health emergency for roadwork that didn't pertain to public health, according to the Office of the State Comptroller.

The state agency's accusations pertain to a $4.98 million contract for resurfacing and safety improvements for Blackwood-Barnsboro Road (Route 603) and Woodbury-Turnersville Road (Route 621) in the Townships of Washington and Deptford. The county awarded the contract on April 15, 2020 — during the height of the COVID-19 emergency.

The comptroller's office claims that Gloucester County violated bidding laws by awarding the contract without publicly advertising the search for bids and failing to follow procedures when the lowest bid was withdrawn.

County Administrator Chad Bruner contends that county officials followed a transparent process. Bruner claims that administrators "believed in good faith" that they complied with the state orders during an unprecedented emergency.

"Given this pandemic was largely without precedent and the relative confusion from the federal government agencies, state agencies, and local entities, the County in good faith relied on NJ Executive Order 103 which was broad in scope in believing this road project qualified as an emergency under the stature," Bruner told Patch via email. View Bruner's full statement below.

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Under state law, government agencies must advertise the opportunity for contractors to bid on conducting a project. Gov. Phil Murphy declared a public-health emergency and state of emergency on March 9, 2020. The state COVID orders loosened those regulations on certain projects that addressed a threat to public health, safety or welfare, the comptroller's office said. But Gloucester County improperly relied on those emergency orders on a paving contract for a roadwork project initiated in 2017 — three years before the health emergency — according to Acting State Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh.

"The public bidding laws were enacted to benefit New Jersey taxpayers and instill trust that public officials are making well-reasoned and unbiased decisions that serve the public good," Walsh wrote in a letter to County Administrator Chad Bruner. "Disregarding important public bidding requirements, as here, threatens to erode confidence in the public bidding laws and their use by local officials."

After initiating the project in 2017, county officials shelved the design stage for two years. The county re-instated the project in 2020 because COVID significantly reduced traffic.

Normally, the county would've had to advertise the bidding process in newspapers at least 15 days before the bid opening date. But the county didn't advertise the bid, instead selecting three paving contractors to receive the bid package because of similar work they'd previously performed for Gloucester County.

County officials alerted the three contractors about the bidding opportunity in letters sent April 1, 2020, with proposals due six days later. Each company sent back an offer: one for $4,308,037.50, another for $4,978,338 and the third for $5,351,800.

On April 7, the company with the lowest bid withdrew its offer because of a mathematical error. According to the comptroller's office, the county allowed the contractor to withdraw the bid without documenting its mistake or complying with state bid-withdrawal procedures. County officials failed to notify the Board of County Commissioners before accepting the withdrawal request, Walsh says.

The county commissioners approved a resolution April 15 awarding the paving contract. But the resolution improperly stated that the county advertised for bids, the comptroller's office says.

Bruner sent Patch the following statement:

"There was a recent Comptroller letter posted on their website regarding Emergency Road Construction jobs during the height of the COVID pandemic. The Comptroller’s office believes that the project did not meet the emergency contract procurement provision. However, we vehemently disagree as there was a Gubernatorial Executive Order and State Department of Health declaration of a State Emergency. If that does not sound like the threshold for an emergency contract procurement, then we don’t know what would qualify in the future. For some reason they ignored the fact set of an Emergent Pandemic World we had to blindly navigate.

As a frame of reference we have done hundreds of millions of dollars in federal, state and county funds with no procurement issues at all in the 30 plus years I have worked for the county. These procurements have included numerous emergency contract situations like described above with no issues.

It is also important to know during this declared State of Emergency, there were limited vehicles on the road, limited businesses open, and no school buses or children in the area of these roadways. It was in fact the perfect time to accelerate these projects with the safety of the taxpayer and residents in mind.

During this process, we had no conflict or concern from the New Jersey Department of Transportation or nor any concerns for reimbursement. If there was an issue, we would have been held up for funding, permits or reimbursements. We communicated with them during process, submitted the quotes and all pertinent information and was accepted by them.

Although we used our best judgement to exercise the emergency contract provision under public procurement statutes, we went the extra step to solicit 3 quotes and went with the lowest qualified bidder (where under the true form of an emergency contract you could dispense of that step and just get one contractor price and do the job). We did not. We intentionally mimicked the normal procurement process by getting 3 quotes and meeting contractors at the job site.

It is important to note while most state offices closed and workers were working from home, Gloucester County stayed completely open for services and utilized the most efficient ways within the Local Public Contracts Law to continue services, respond to the needs of Gloucester County, and tackle problem projects like the above-mentioned project when schools and many businesses were closed. The avoidance of disruptions to the public and the savings in traffic safety policing was enormously beneficial to residents, taxpayers, and businesses who would have been affected otherwise.

Given this pandemic was largely without precedent and the relative confusion from the federal government agencies, state agencies, and local entities, the County in good faith relied on NJ Executive Order 103 which was broad in scope in believing this road project qualified as an emergency under the stature. In addition, the County sought guidance from Local Finance Notice 2020-06 which covered emergency public works contracts during the COVID-19 emergency. The County believed in good faith it was operating within the guidance of Local Finance Notice 2020-06.

With respect to the bid withdrawal the bid response spreadsheet clearly noted on its face that the third bidder withdrew the bid. This document along with the resolution and rest of the agenda was in front of the Commissioners prior to and during the meeting and was part of the agenda. This document was on the County’s website prior to and during the meeting-and still is to this day.

While there may have been mix up in the awarding resolution, the document preparers were referring to the three solicited bids and bid specification #17-02 and thus used the bid form resolution as opposed to the emergency form resolution. But at no time was this to mislead or somehow avoid transparency. In an effort to be transparent and seek the best pricing for the residents of Gloucester County, county purchasing went out of its way to solicit bids from able contractors with proven bid history when many contractors could not find adequate workers.

And while the County stayed open during the entire pandemic, continued all services, and delivered meals to seniors who normally would utilize the County Senior Nutrition sites, we also planned and executed a regional COVID vaccination site serving over 500,000 vaccinations.

These are not the actions of a county trying to avoid transparency or efficiency. The County went above and beyond during the emergency when many government agencies were closed and working from home. The County goes above and beyond to ensure bid fairness, transparency, and seeking the most efficient services for the residents of Gloucester County. In fact, we are one of the only counties if not the only county that puts all of our information online for the public to view. We are extremely open and transparent with years and years of data on our website."