Board members press for open bidding after CDC developer path used for Villa LaAnse phases

Commissioners at the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Sept. 9 budget workshop sharply questioned the procurement path for the Villa LaAnse affordable housing project and pressed staff for assurances that future phases would be competitively bid.

Commissioner Dr. Spiritis said he believed the CDC’s procurement rules included a “loophole” that allowed the project to be awarded to a single general contractor without a public bid and urged the CRA to require the CDC, as a condition of any CRA funding, to follow the CRA’s and city’s procurement procedures. “I want to make sure that that contract requires that you follow the CRA's procurement proceedings where they don't get the money. Period,” Spiritis said.

Anita Jenkins, the city’s director of neighborhood services, and other staff described the CDC as the project developer under an established development agreement and told the board that the CDC used a public procurement path when the project was first tendered; staff and counsel said the board had earlier given direction on the procurement approach. Jenkins said phase 1 is under construction and urged caution about midstream contractor changes because “construction is underway at the site.”

CRA staff and board members who support keeping the current contractor said the project has progressed with public procurement steps and that changing contractors while construction is underway would carry “huge financial and project implications.” Board members who questioned the path said that, even if the approach was legal, it disadvantaged local contractors who did not get the chance to bid.

Staff promised written follow-up for the record. Board members asked for: (1) a copy of the CDC’s procurement provisions and any analysis or independent cost estimate used to evaluate bids; (2) confirmation of the procurement path the board approved in January; and (3) language that could be incorporated into future CRA contracts with the CDC to require a public competitive process where appropriate.

Ending: No formal change was made at the workshop; board members said they would pursue the matter in upcoming meetings and may propose motions to require different procurement steps for future phases.