Contractors also queried city hall

WASILLA -- City council member Noel Lowe wasn't the only person questioning the sports arena construction contract at the Dec. 10 council meeting. Management from Anchorage-based Cornerstone Construction Company corresponded with the city's project manager Don Moore after a committee selected Howdie Inc. for the contract.

Cornerstone president John Eng said this week his company isn't likely to pursue the matter further. Cornerstone, along with Howdie and Hickle Construction, were the committee's top three finishers out of a dozen contractors that submitted proposals.

"We responded to the protest letter [from Cornerstone] and answered the points in there. There were some misunderstandings that we corrected," Moore said.

Wasilla purchasing codes don't include an in-house avenue for appeal or a formal protest period, according to Moore.

"There is not a protest period, as such. The next stop is to take the protest to court if they want to do that," Moore said.

That's not likely to happen, according to Eng.

"We just run our business in a team-build fashion. When our projects are done we're just done. We're never involved in lawsuits, we just negotiate it out and finish the work -- it's more fun that way," Eng said.

Both Cornerstone and Howdie have experience building with Kumin Associates, the architecture firm that is designing the project and will serve as construction manager during the job. Howdie worked with Kumin on the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, according to owner Howard Nugent.

Government construction is moving away from the old strategy of having architectural plans in-hand and accepting the lowest bidder for the job. Strategies such as the so-called team build approach have replaced the old way of building projects. On the arena project, Kumin, Howdie and the city will work together to complete designs for the project, and Kumin will be under contract to the city throughout the job.

The advantage is that Howdie and the city won't be stuck with specifications written by an absentee architect -- and that Kumin and the city can add value to the design as construction progresses.

"The industry is rapidly changing from the old bid concept into team build and design build," Nugent said. "Private companies have been into it for a while … It's a new concept for the industry, it's not a new concept for us."

None of the 12 contractors who applied for the job spoke at the meeting. Tony Gumley, the owner of Valley Rental Services and Gumley Excavation, spoke to the council and asked them to look closely at the award process. Gumley said later that he didn't expect his company to sub-contract on the job regardless of who won. He spoke to the council only as a concerned member of the public, he said.