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LOUISIANA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Contractor sues City of New Orleans for accepting construction contract that allegedly should have been rejected

Jennifer D. Sims

NEW ORLEANS – A Baton Rouge-based contractor is suing the City of New Orleans for allegedly accepting a faulty bid on a construction contract.

Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Group, LLC filed suit against the City of New Orleans in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Oct. 1. Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Group claims it was the second lowest bidder on a contract bid solicited by the City of New Orleans for the New Orleans Youth Study Center and Juvenile justice Center that took place on Sept. 14, 2012.

The plaintiff alleges the low bidder on the project, the McDonnel Group, LLC, should have been disqualified from the bid process because its bid did not conform to the city's requirements. Satterfield & Pontikes asserts it submitted a formal protest over McDonnel winning the bid because a section called a "Bid Bond Form" within its bid application was allegedly not completed and returned with the bid.

The defendant is accused of violating prohibitory laws.

The plaintiff is seeking an injunction to stop the granting of the contract to the firm the city deemed as the winner.

Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Group is represented by Jennifer D. Sims of Baton Rouge-based Breazeae, Sachse, & Wilson, LLP.

In a response to the injunctive relief requested by the plaintiff the city claims that the "Bid Bond Form" referred to by the plaintiff was not a required submission for the bid.

The City of New Orleans asserts that granting the bid to the McDonnel Group will save the city $1.2 million and that it is not violating the public bid law by granting the bid to the lowest bidder. The defendant has requested that the plaintiff's petition be denied.

The case has been assigned to Division F Judge Christopher J. Bruno.

Case no. 2012-09220.

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