BALTIMORE — The Maryland Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a $50.3 million contract without bidding to clean up the Patapsco River and remove debris after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“While we are very, very proud that the work has now begun at the Port of Baltimore, and that we have traffic and our workers are back — which we are very excited about — we are also very, very clear that this work is not done,” Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said Wednesday during the board meeting in Annapolis.
The emergency contract was initially awarded to Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. in April. Due to a change in state procurement law, it was placed on Wednesday’s agenda for Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Chief Deputy Treasurer Jonathan D. Martin to consider.
Under state law, the governor, comptroller and state treasurer serve on the three-member Board of Public Works. Martin replaced State Treasurer Dereck Davis, who was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been clearing debris from the federal canal. The Maryland Transportation Authority is responsible for removing the remaining debris, which includes large portions of the highway bridge trusses, steel girders, the bridge deck and concrete parapets.
Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. was selected because it already had a contract with the state for the Transportation Authority’s Harry W. Nice/Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge replacement project.
Marshall Brown of the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust on Wednesday objected to the state’s emergency contract with the company, arguing that Maryland had ample time to submit bids for its share of the cleanup effort because the Army Corps of Engineers had primary responsibility for cleaning up the debris.
“Maryland’s procurement process is designed to be fair, competitive, transparent and impartial,” Brown said. “This no-bid contract does not meet those standards.”
On the morning of March 26, the Key Bridge was rammed by the cargo ship Dali, causing the bridge to collapse, killing six construction workers and closing a large section of the port’s shipping channel.
On June 10, the canal was fully reopened and about two weeks later the Dali finally set sail.
Requests for proposals for a bridge redesign were due in late June, and the Maryland Transportation Authority is poised to award that contract later this summer.
Moore praised President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, for including 100% federal cost sharing for the bridge reconstruction in the supplemental budget the president presented to Congress last Friday.
Moore, who has been identified as a key Democrat in Biden’s re-election campaign, has been traveling the country in recent weeks campaigning for the president.
The governor said he has met with “hundreds of leaders in the White House and on Capitol Hill” over the past week to discuss the progress of Maryland’s efforts to repair the bridge.
“The Port of Baltimore is a vital artery for economic flows and economic activity across the country and, to put it simply, our focus on getting this done is not about nostalgia,” Moore said. “It’s about necessity.”
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