Miami-Dade could give design of $270 mil MIA project without a second look

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Here we go again with another boneheaded procurement move at Miami-Dade.

A group of county employees chosen to select the contractor for the design phase of the $270-million redevelopment of the central terminal at Miami International Airport have made their recommendation without doing the due diligence needed to protect taxpayer dollars.

One selection committee member admitted he didn’t actually read the materials presented — it was just too much paperwork!

Then the group as a whole waived a second tier review, which is the part of the process where they hear oral presentations and can ask questions and get more information from the different entities making proposals.

What? Were they too bored?

The excuse they had was that the project was already behind schedule. Like that’s a new thing in Miami-Dade? Besides, what’s a few more months on a project of this magnitude that will take seven years?

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Has the county ever rushed like this to award a multi-million contract without going through the full vetting process? Yeah, probably. Maybe thats why the airport is in the miserable state it is in today.

It not only seems terribly irresponsible with the taxpayers dollars, it also smacks of being a fix. “Oh, let’s just skip a second look We know what we need to know.” Wink, wink. Nod, nod.

The first tier review occurred on April 22. That’s where Jess Linn, a planning development manager at the county’s department of regulatory and economic resources, said he “had to rank all of them equally” about the firms making proposals because it was “impossible to evaluate the materials.” In an audio tape of the selection committee meeting obtained by Ladra, Linn said the information provided for the rankings was about 1,000 pages. He can’t read all that.

Maybe Linn shouldn’t have been on the selection committee.

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It’s especially odd, then, that the second tier was just dismissed because it was an opportunity, a county staffer told the committee, to get more information “if you feel that what was provided was not enough.” The selection committee has the option to waive the second tier, but this seems like the perfect example where that is not a good idea. After all, someone didn’t even read what was provided.

This is not just any airport project, as if that were even a thing.

The aging MIA Central Terminal is a key part of the airport’s infrastructure, according to the county website, providing services, support offices, ticket counters, security checkpoints and concession spaces for concourses E, F and G. The redevelopment project is aimed at “modernizing and improving the overall passenger experience,” as well as “ensure compliance with the current building and life safety codes,” and is expected to take about seven years.

“This is crucial for maintaining a safe, efficient, and comfortable environment for both the airport staff and the passengers. Upgrades include modernizing the infrastructure, improving accessibility, operational efficiencies, enhancing security measures, and expanding concession spaces, among other improvements,” the county website says.

Of course they’re going to expand concession spaces. That’s the money maker for the county — and a source of campaign contributions for some commissioners.

This is also coming at a time when the county and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, whose administration is expected to negotiate the contract, has come under increasing fire for the horrible state of the infrastructure at MIA, the county’s number one economic engine. Broken elevators and escalators, stalled moving walkways, giant leaks in the ceiling causing damage and huge puddles, a Skytrain that didn’t operate for months.

In February, Levine Cava and Miami-Dade Aviation Department Director Ralph Cutié launched a new #IamMIA campaign and La Alcaldesa promised to turn the ship around with $1.7 million in maintenance upgrades and a $7 million investment in capital improvements — including the Central Terminal redevelopment — over the course of the next 15 years. She announced the hiring of additional “lightning crew members,” who can basically run around and put bandaids on maintenance issues as they arise.

They have little lightning bolts on their vests. Who told Levine Cava that lightning and airports go together?

Also in February, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg was at MIA to announce $27 million in federal funding for the Central Terminal project.

So awarding any piece of this $270-million project without a thorough review of the qualifications and experience just seems even more egregious. We don’t need another black eye.

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There should be no option to waive a second tier review. There’s a reason why the language in the request for proposals was specific to say that the selection committee “will evaluate responsive proposals, based on First and Second Tier criteria, in an effort to make a responsible recommendation to the County Mayor or County Mayor’s designee as to which of the respondents should be granted the right to negotiate a contract for the solicited services.”

In other words, skipping the second tier could lead to an irresponsible recommendation.

Is this what we can expect from the other projects — the expansion of South Terminal Concourses H and J, two new hotels, a parking garage and the expanded warehouses for cargo operations?

Are we just going to start skipping the second tier review on all these projects?

  Daniella Levine Cava, Miami International Airport, Ralph Cutie