Anderson Columbia Vice President E. Tony Williams Jr. told the board that he didn’t see the addenda in emails until after the bids were opened.

LIVE OAK — A no-win situation for the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners turned into a protest win for Anderson Columbia.

A protest from Anderson Columbia, which followed the county’s awarding of a bid to Preferred Materials for the widening of County Road 49 in December, was successful at the board’s Jan. 15 meeting. In a 3-2 vote, the board decided to reject the decision of the protest committee — County Administrator Randy Harris, who also oversees the road department, and County Attorney Jimmy Prevatt — and in a 4-1 vote decided to rescind the previous bid award and re-let the project. Don Hale and Ricky Gamble voted against rejecting the committee’s decision after a lengthy discussion, two motions that failed due to lack of seconds and an 11-minute break. Gamble also voted against rescinding the bid award.

“I don’t think we can win either way,” Hale said during the discussion of the protest. “It’s just a Catch-22 for me sitting up here. It’s like what do we do?

“I just don’t see a win for us or for the people here as far as saving money.”

The protest from ACCI came after a technical error during the bid posting on North Florida Professional Services’ website. The error meant that not all of the addenda for the project could be viewed and properly submitted.

The county, though, did email the addenda to all the interested contractors that picked up a packet.

According to Anderson Columbia Vice President E. Tony Williams Jr., he didn’t open the email, though, until after the bid deadline had passed. Rather, his company followed the protocol listed in the county’s bid solicitation and looked on the NFPS website.

Despite the issues surrounding the bid process on the job, the board did approve awarding the bid to Preferred Materials, which was the second lowest bidder at its Dec. 18 meeting.

ACCI, which was the lowest bidder, didn’t submit one payable item during the bid due to the missing addenda.

The discussion between the commissioners largely stemmed from two stated viewpoints: a desire to save the taxpayers money by going with the low bidder or protecting the integrity of the bid process, as reletting the project would mean all previous bids are now known.

Len Stapleton, District 4 commissioner, said he ran for office to save money and therefore he believed the bids needed to be re-let. Stapleton twice made a motion to reject the decision of the protest committee and reject the bids. The first motion died from lack of a second.

“I was elected to represent the people of Suwannee County and saving money if I could do it,” Stapleton said. “That’s part of my job.

“It’s about the taxpayers at the end of the day.”

Eventually Clyde Fleming, District 2 commissioner, and Ronnie Richardson, the commissioner from District 5 who originally made a motion to accept the protest committee’s recommendation, agreed with Stapleton.

“I can’t sell out my conscience for a road,” Richardson said, adding he agreed in principle with Stapleton.

Richardson and Hale expressed concern during the discussion with fallout from Preferred Materials and a potential protest and possible subsequent lawsuit.

Hale also asked Prevatt and Harris what would a reversal mean for the integrity of the bid process, since the numbers from all of the various companies are known.

Harris said Hale answered his own question, agreeing that the previous bids are indeed public.

Gamble, too, worried about what this situation does to the bid process in Suwannee County.

“I look at the integrity of our bid process and you damage it either way you go,” he said, adding that while he doesn’t want to go to court, the quickest and best solution to the problem was possibly to let a judge decide. “You have one protest, do we go for another protest? When that one comes, then what?

“I just don’t see a good scenario either way we go.”