Article Review

This architectural rendering shows how the new Richmond City Jail would look from Oliver Hill Way. It is slated to open in January 2014.

By: ROBERT ZULLO | Richmond Times-Dispatch Published: July 21, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. --

For Barry Cromuel and PEAC Consulting, his 5-year-old Richmond project-management and engineering company, it was going to be a golden opportunity. PEAC was part of a team of four firms that had successfully pitched their services to the city in response to a request for proposals issued in November that was tied to the construction of the city's new jail.

It not only was a piece of a nearly $3.6 million contract, it also was a chance for PEAC, a minority-owned business registered with the city's office of Minority Business Development, to grow and learn the jail-construction business, Cromuel said. Yet despite playing a crucial role in helping the team land the job, scoring points for technical expertise, minority business participation and other criteria during the city's evaluation process, Cromuel's company, the only Richmond-based firm on the original team, has been dismissed from the project without explanation, Cromuel said.

Added to the job after the contract was awarded, however, was a team of staffers from BFE Strategies, a local company that competed for the same contract but lost out after earning low marks from a city selection committee that reviewed the proposals. The switch has prompted Cromuel to request an investigation by city Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall into how the contract was handled.

"The handling of this award and all subparts was not done in good faith, invites many questions, gives the appearance of impropriety and exposes the procurement process to integrity challenges," Cromuel wrote in the letter to Marshall, dated June 11. Cromuel, who says he has retained a lawyer and is weighing his legal options, believes city officials had a hand in his removal.

"The city wanted this change. They embraced it, they orchestrated it," Cromuel said. Tammy Hawley, press secretary for Mayor Dwight C. Jones, denied interview requests for Marshall, Procurement Director Cheryl Wright and Office of Minority Business Development Director Vicki Rivers regarding Cromuel's allegations. "I don't think it's prudent for us to speak to the media regarding a formal complaint that may require a legal response," Hawley said. However, she characterized the issue as a dispute between a prime contractor and subcontractor and added that the city would have limited power to impose such a personnel change.

"How would we make a contractor who has won a contract do anything?" she said. The contract was rescinded and the mayor directed that the work should be bid out to avoid the appearance of impropriety, Hawley said. Ridley President and CEO Walter Ridley and Marshall worked together as deputy directors with the Washington Department of Corrections for about six months during Marshall's eight years as a District of Columbia city government employee, Hawley said. The successful company or companies would be responsible for overseeing the construction of the new jail now being built by the Tompkins-Ballard Joint Venture, a separate contracting process that drew criticism from Richmond City Council members and local contractors, including Bowers Family Enterprises CEO Al Bowers. Bowers also is the president of BFE Strategies, which is listed as "a division of Bowers Family Enterprises" on the company's letterhead, though he stressed in an interview that the two companies are separate entities.

The city received two responses to its RFP, one from BFE Strategies and the other from the Ridley team, which, in addition to PEAC and The Ridley Group and Associates, included Carter Goble Lee, a company with offices in Georgia and South Carolina that provides an array of construction-management, planning and architectural services, and Rohadfox, an Atlanta construction-control services company. The city's evaluation committee weighed the two proposals based on a range of criteria, including experience with jail construction, knowledge of Virginia Department of Corrections requirements, and relevant certifications such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The committee invited each team to interview.

The competition wasn't close, according to scoring sheets on file with the city's Procurement Services Department. During the first round of scoring, the Ridley team scored 495 out of 600 possible points. BFE scored 299. During the second round, which was conducted subsequent to interviews with the teams, the gap widened. Ridley got 515 points, while BFE's score fell to 270.

"All six voting panel members were unanimous and resolute in their decision that if BFE Strategies Inc. would have been the sole offeror to respond to the above RFP, they would have recommended that the project be canceled in its entirety and rebidded," according to city documents. Cromuel says his company, which was going to be responsible for project schedule management, a role spelled out in the RFP, was a big part of The Ridley Group's success, specifically for certification in Primavera project management software as well as in LEED engineering and design standards. Both were listed among the "core reasons" the Ridley team was favored by city evaluators.

The contract was awarded to The Ridley Group and Associates only, with no names of the other companies associated with the team listed, and signed in late March by city officials and representatives from Ridley. "That was the first red flag, but I was assured it was an administrative decision and it didn't mean anything," Cromuel said. "We were assured nothing else changes."

But in early May, The Ridley Group notified the city's Procurement Services Department that it intended to add seven people to the project, among them five staffers of BFE Strategies who were listed in Bowers' unsuccessful proposal, according to city documents. They included three of Al Bowers' relatives: his brother Curtis Bowers and sons Sean and Travis Bowers. Al Bowers, in an interview, took issue with any assertions that his company was squeezing another out.

When Cromuel asked Walter Ridley why the BFE employees were added to the job, he was told "the city made me do it," Cromuel said. "Why have an RFP process if you're going to disregard the proposal and have someone in authority override the recommendation of a selection panel that's been working on this for months?" Cromuel said.

However, that contradicts a June 29 letter from The Ridley Group and Associates to Cromuel. It states that as of May 25, "your professional services are no longer needed for the city of Richmond Jail Project Management and Correctional Consulting Services" and adds that he will be paid for invoices up to May 25. Ridley did not respond to attempts Thursday and Friday to clarify the issue. Representatives from Rohadfox and Carter Goble Lee, the two other companies that were part of the Ridley team, have refused to discuss the project or PEAC's role.

A clause in the RFP requires the city to receive 30-day written notice of changes of key personnel assigned to the contract and gives the city the right to review the replacement staff's qualifications to ensure that the "individual's experience and knowledge level will not degrade the level of service." That passage was quoted in an email sent by the city procurement staff to The Ridley Group when it requested to add the staffers to the job. Résumés for Bowers employees were then sent to the city.

However, when asked whether the city had received notice of the personnel changes within the 30-day period and whether it had signed off on the changes, Hawley, the city spokeswoman, said the clause refers only to changes of key personnel. "We not aware of any changes to key personnel as intended in the RFP," Hawley wrote in an email. "The clause does not pertain to a prime contractor's relationship with a subcontractor."

Cromuel said he has had to lay off staff and close a downtown office as a result of lost income he was counting on from the job. He is now working out of his home in Henrico. "It's embarrassing to have it yanked away and have it yanked away to a company less qualified according to the selection committee," Cromuel said. "This has been a horrible experience. It's been very disappointing. To lose it this way … is disheartening."