Maryland OKs $50.3M contract for removal of bridge collapse debris
A Maryland board led by Gov. Wes Moore has approved a $50.3 million emergency contract with a company that removed debris from the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland board led by Gov. Wes Moore approved a $50.3 million emergency contract on Wednesday to pay a Swedish construction company that removed debris from the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
While the work to remove debris from the federal channel in the Patapsco River was done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland entered into the emergency contract with Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. in April to remove debris from other channels that could then be used by salvage and commercial vessels after the collapse.
Skanska was chosen because it had successfully demolished the existing Nice/Middleton Bridge across the Potomac River, according to state records. The company was considered qualified and equipped to perform similar operations that were needed expeditiously in the bridge collapse.
Marshall Brown, speaking on behalf of the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust in the Mid-Atlantic Region, spoke against the contract at a Board of Public Works meeting on Wednesday. He said Maryland had had time to consider numerous available contractors that could have been mobilized to do the work. He said the emergency no-bid contract went against a state procurement process that is designed to be fair, competitive and transparent.
“This no-bid contract does not meet the standards," Brown said. «For those reasons, we stand firmly against the approval of this contract.”
But Bruce Gartner, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said the state's engineers used their best professional
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