Miami-Dade has a new mayor as of last year. There are five new commissioners. There’s a new Chief Operating Officer. There’s a new director at Miami International Airport, a new chief of procurement.
But the same ol’ politically-connected family is getting the multi-million dollar deals.
County commissioners narrowly approved a $70 million contract — $50 mil for the first five years and two potential extensions — for Magnum Construction Management, which is the new name for the Munilla family business, changed after they filed bankruptcy after the Florida International University pedestrian bridge they built on Eighth Street collapsed in 2018 and killed six people.
Read related: Miami-Dade airport contract stalls as politicians meddle in procurement
This contract is for oversight of miscellaneous projects at MIA and the request for bids went out in 2019. It’s the same contract Political Cortadito wrote about back in April. It had been tied up in protest because the bid was originally awarded to someone else.
Some people may think that the commission bent over backwards to let MCM get the contract (or keep the contract since they’ve had it since 2011). It isn’t just because Commissioner Keon Hardemon‘s old chief of staff when he was a Miami city commissioner had lobbied for them. Commissioner Rebeca Sosa went to bat for MCM as well.
But several subcontractors made public comments urging commissioners to keep MCM so projects would not be interrupted and, well, so they could keep their jobs.
Because, in all fairness, MCM almost didn’t get it.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava — who has had problems with other airport contracts as well — did everything she could not to give it to her predecessor’s family (the Munillas are in-laws of former Mayor-turned-Congressman Carlos Gimenez). Her recommendation earlier this year — after taking a couple of weeks to try to figure out how to give it to the first ranked Suffolk NV2A, despite technical issues with their proposal — was to take the work in-house (read: take the work away from the Munillas).
Nananina said the commissioners. Why mess up a good thing? They voted 9-4 (which is veto proof) to deny that recommendation and told her to negotiate with MCM.
Commissioners felt they had no choice after Suffolk was, basically, disqualified for not having a local designation. The way it was disqualified for not having local designation is another matter. Apparently, Daniel Munilla made a public records request. He wanted to throw a wrench into the process and apparently knew how.
It does raise the question: How many other contractors have bogus local business designations? But that’s for another story, another day.
Read related: Nevermind! Daniella Levine Cava steps back from rejection of all airport bids
After Suffolk was disqualified, the process was derailed yet again when Levine Cava tried to sidestep MCM and negotiate with the number three ranked firm, Lemartec, a subsidiary of MasTec. She used a a scathing Inspector General report that cited “an egregious lack of managerial oversight” by South Miami-based MCM for letting one of its top managers start a side hustle with MIA subcontractors he supervised.
The fact that this manager was “awarding bids to subcontractors he had a financial relationship with … created a conflict of interest that merited further investigation and a public report,” wrote Patra Liu, general counsel at the Office of Inspector General, who thought investigators were being soft on MCM because of the political ties.
MCM lobbyist Eric Zichella has said that Piu’s concerns were politically-motivated and, months later, he and his client were vindicated.
“The hearing examiner soundly rejected the OIG report, questioned the timing and the relevance,” Zichella told Ladra. “After that, the complainers were left with virtually nothing.
“It was an extremely expensive act of masturbation for the other side, and they blew whatever political capital they had in the county.”
Read related: Extension of MCM’s $120 million airport contract to get another look
When it came back Wednesday, it was held back on the agenda until almost the end of an 11-hour meeting, when everybody had spent too much time on redistricting and the airport vendors relief and they wanted to go home already. Many commissioners were getting up and milling about or getting cafecitos. It took about 30 seconds for them to approve the contract in a 8-5 vote, with commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins, Eileen Higgins, Raquel Regalado and Rene Garcia and Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz dissenting.
Diaz said he voted no to be consistent. “I asked it to be thrown out the first time.”
Garcia, who made loud objections in April about the lack of transparency, said he wished there had been more discussion. He voted no because “I think there are still a lot of questions about the bidding process that were not answered.”
But there was no drama. Nobody called the process “a mess,” like Diaz had called it in April.
Said Zichella: “MCM is looking forward to getting started again and helping the small businesses get back to work.”
MCM finally gets $70 million airport contract after long protested process added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
