Local company JMI-Edison has asked the Superior Court of Guam to disqualify Menzies Aviation from being an eligible contractor for the Guam airport’s baggage handling service for allegedly lacking a valid contractor’s license.
Meanwhile, the Guam International Airport Authority on Monday confirmed the hiring of Air Services International Group Inc., doing business as Menzies Aviation, under emergency procurement.
Menzies is “currently providing management and infrastructure support services to GIAA’s Baggage Conveyance Systems. GIAA procured the services using the emergency procurement method of source selection provided for in Guam law,” GIAA spokesperson Rolenda Faasuamalie told The Guam Daily Post.
JMI-Edison seeks to be awarded the airport contract, saying it’s the “only responsible and responsive bidder to the request for proposals.”
The company brought its procurement protest to the Superior Court of Guam after the Office of Public Accountability dismissed its appeal.
JMI-Edison said OPA’s decision did not address the nature of its protest, which was GIAA’s selection of a baggage handling system vendor that does not have a Guam contractors license to do the job.
“Currently, Menzies is performing for GIAA under an ’emergency’ contract without appropriate licensing. This performance is occurring despite the fact that GIAA counsel has informed the OPA that the issue of contractor responsibility had not yet been addressed by GIAA,” JMI-Edison, through attorneys Joseph Razzano and Joshua Walsh, said in a Feb. 10 complaint filed in local court.
OPA cited JMI-Edison’s misconduct for presenting a Contractors Licensing Board document that the board as a whole did not approve, among other things. The CLB document essentially said a contractor’s license is required for the work.
That OPA decision led to the resignation of then CLB executive director Cecil “Buddy” Orsini, at Adelup’s request, for releasing the questionable document to JMI-Edison. The OPA report was “troubling,” Adelup had said.
In its complaint, JMI-Edison said it hopes the court would find Menzies Aviation’s proposal as nonresponsive to the request for proposal, and that GIAA must disqualify Menzies from award eligibility because it “could not have legally and responsibly performed the work detailed under the RFP.”
It also hopes that the matter be remanded back to OPA with appropriate instructions, and that the court award JMI-Edison its attorney’s fees and costs to the extent allowed by law.
JMI-Edison said the public auditor’s findings that its protest should be dismissed as a sanction was “improper” because it was “arbitrary, capricious, clearly erroneous, or contrary to law.”
It said OPA imposed the sanction of dismissal without prior notice to all parties and without an opportunity for JMI-Edison to be heard.
JMI-Edison also said in its complaint that OPA incorrectly made no distinction between actions by the CLB executive director or CLB staff in determining whether or not an entity is properly licensed, versus administrative hearings before the CLB regarding the issuance of CLB sanctions.
OPA noted JMI-Edison President Ed Ilao’s email to CLB’s Orsini, addressing the executive director as “Bro,” before asking him to sign an attached sample letter that would indicate Menzies does not have a proper contractor’s license from CLB.
“The OPA, by failing to address the procurement failings of GIAA, has failed to perform its duty under the law,” JMI-Edison said.
It also added in its complaint GIAA’s untimely response to its Guam Sunshine Reform request for procurement record, and OPA’s “failure to review and find that GIAA’s procurement record was not kept in accordance with law.”
OPA also dismissed another procurement appeal, this time involving a Guam Department of Education wireless internet installation project. The losing bidder, G4S Security Systems, presented a similar document released by then CLB’s executive director Orsini that did not have the full board’s approval.
