Former Miami-Dade Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo was back at County Hall this month, visiting Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz April 15 with a group of lobbyists who are pushing for a totally clean and “flawless” bidding process to be tossed out and started anew.
Was she just hanging out? Was she on a date with Ralph Garcia-Toledo, one of the three lobbyists who were there with her between 3:20 and 3:30 or so on that Thursday.
Because she couldn’t be lobbying herself. Miami-Dade rules prohibit former county employees from lobbying their former bosses and colleagues for two years after they leave their taxpaid jobs. So Bravo, who left her $251,000-a-year county job for the private sector earlier this year, couldn’t have been lobbying herself, right?
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It’s just a coincidence that she took a position with WSP USA, the very same company ranked in fourth place by a selection committee for a $25 million contract for design and engineering services at our airports!
Yeah, Ladra doesn’t believe in coincidences, either.
The other two lobbyists were Jesse Manzano and Alex Heckler, and together with Garcia-Toledo, they are involved in the push to have the all bids rejected for $50 million worth of design and engineering services at the airport and start over again. All three are registered to lobby for the two losing companies, according to the county’s online database.
The county has decided to hire two firms instead of one, so each would get $25 million over five years. Four firms were ranked and Hill International and CBRE Heery Inc. got the best two scores and were recommended for negotiations. Manzano and Garcia-Toledo are working with or on behalf of the Jacobs Engineering Group team, the third ranked firm. Manzano is registered to lobby on behalf of Gannett Fleming, which is on the team along with GT Construction Group. Heckler and Bravo work for WSP USA, the fourth ranked company.
In their whiny protests, the two losing companies have tossed out a clusterbunch of complaints about local preference and past performance and even allegations that that one subcontractor was privy to more information, giving them a competitive edge. Hoping that something will stick. Nothing has.
All of the accusations have been reviewed and county staff has rejected every single one as meritless.
The sign-in sheets for the commission chairman’s office show these four usual suspects came to see Diaz, Manzano and RGT at 3:22 p.m. and Heckler and Bravo at 3:30. Maybe they were parking the town car?
None of the above have responded to phone calls or emails or text messages. Maybe they’re getting their stories straight.
Diaz told Ladra Thursday afternoon that Bravo did not say word during the meeting.
“The meeting was with Ralph and Jesse and Alex Heckler, but Alice she went in there, but she didn’t say anything the whole time. She walked in, said “hi” and sat down. She stayed quiet and then she said “Goodbye” and gave me a hug,” Diaz said.
“I didn’t even know that she was there,” he said.
Uh huh.
“It was strange. I didn’t ask questions. Honestly, I was trying to hurry them out because I had back to back meetings and I was running behind.”
The gist of the meeting. “They were against the procurement the way it happened,” Diaz said. “It’s about a contract the mayor kicked out after months of procurement. They want it kicked out.
“I told them I wasn’t in favor of starting over but I would consider what they said.”
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Las malas lenguas say that someone on the commission staff wrote in Bravo’s name on the sign-in sheet — which does look like an afterthought scrawl — and maybe that’s why her phone number and email are not listed. Because the mysterious whistleblower didn’t have the information.
But he or she didn’t want Bravo’s visit to go unnoticed, either.
This comes a little more than a month after Diaz presented Bravo with a proclamation for all her “years of dedication and service” at County Hall.
Around the same time, she asked an opinion about lobbying for WSP from the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. The Ethics board found that she could guide WSP on interactions with the county. But she could not make presentations to commissioners or advocate or seek to influence anyone.
So what does everybody think she was there for? To say “Hi”? To watch and learn?
“This prohibition is broad, and covers any activity where you would be publicly identified as part of WSP lobbying team,” the Ethics Commission ruled. That certainly would include a meeting with the official WSP lobbyists and the two lobbyists of the other snubbed firm.
It’s possible Bravo comes up again at Tuesday’s commission meeting, when Mayor Daniella Levine Cava will ask the commission to reject all the proposals and start over, discarding a perfectly good RFP process due to political pressure.
Ladra has filed a public records request for the mayor’s visitors’ sign-in sheets.
A public records request for the video footage of those who went in and out of the commission office — there was no expectation that Bravo’s name would be on the sign-in sheets — was rejected. A county staffer cited an exemption to Florida public records laws because the camera is part of the county’s security system.
Not sure what security secrets would be revealed by footage of the door to the commission chairman’s office.
But maybe it’s another type of secret they want to keep.
Alice Bravo may have illegally lobbied Miami-Dade on $50M airport contract added by Ladra on
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