In a move that the City and County of Denver says makes taxpayers whole and strengthens its procurement rules, Denver has settled civil claims against Mortenson Construction and Trammell Crow Company for $9 million.
Denver alleged the companies violated the city’s public procurement rules during early stages of planned renovation work of the Colorado Convention Center.
Denver has claimed Trammell Crow and a former employee, acting as the city and county’s program manager for the Convention Center project, improperly exchanged confidential information with Mortenson during the bidding process for the project. The actions forced Denver to re-start the bidding process, the agreement states.
The settlement agreement with Denver includes $9 million combined from Mortenson Construction and Trammell Crow to reimburse the renovation project for damages and resolve civil claims, a public apology to the city and an agreement from Mortensen not to bid on city contracts for three years.
The Denver District Attorney’s office initially investigated claims against Mortenson and Trammell Crow at the city’s request in December 2018. The Attorney General’s Office also investigated whether the companies violated the Colorado Antitrust Act.
In April, Trammell Crow agreed to pay $250,000 to the Attorney General’s Office. Mortenson agreed to pay $650,000, and to donate at least $650,000 in construction services for a project related to needs from the public health emergency created by COVID-19.
Weiser announces settlement with project manager over convention center bid rigging
“This settlement means we’ve made taxpayers whole, our well-established procurement rules have been fortified and this critical public project is moving forward to support our post-COVID economic recovery,” Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release. “This case involved a serious breach of Denver’s well-established procurement rules by companies that should have known better. The watchful efforts of city employees in this administration uncovered the breach and it is because of their efforts, the leadership of Executive Director Eulois Cleckley at the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and the tireless work of the City Attorney, Kristin Bronson, and her team, that Denver’s reputation for ethical bidding and procurement remains intact.”
In a statement, Trammell Crow’s senior managing director Bill Mosher said the city and state have determined only one of the company’s employees –named by the Attorney General’s Office in April as Michael Sullivan — knew about and participated in the information trading.
“We are pleased to have resolved all matters related to the Colorado Convention Center expansion project. We deeply regret the disruption that was caused to the expansion project and apologize again to the City and the people of Denver,” Mosher said in the statement. “The actions that caused this incident were contrary to our company’s values and the way that we have done business in Denver for more than 60 years. Our company and employees have always taken our civic responsibility as a leader in the Denver business community very seriously.”
“We recognize in addition that our actions caused significant harm to the City,” said CEO Dan Johnson in a statement. “We are truly sorry, and we accept responsibility for our actions.”
Denver selects contractor for convention center expansion
