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Industrial equipment supplier JMI-Edison filed a lawsuit against the Office of Public Accountability, the airport, and a competing company, following the dismissal of its bid protest involving an airport baggage handling system.
The Guam International Airport Authority awarded the project to Menzies Aviation last year, but JMI wants Menzies disqualified, and the project awarded to JMI, according to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.
JMI protested the airport’s award to Menzies in September 2021, but the Office of Public Accountability dismissed the matter on Feb. 3 following findings of fraud related to Contractors Licensing Board Executive Director Cecil Orsini. Orsini has since resigned.
JMI argued in its protest to the auditor that Menzies lacked a necessary license from the Contractors Licensing Board to perform the work, and that JMI should instead be awarded the project.
A Freedom of Information Act filed by Menzies Aviation unearthed an email from JMI President Ed Ilao to Orsini, where Ilao addressed Orsini as “bro” and asked him to sign an attached sample letter. A document issued by Orsini on Dec. 22 stated that Menzies did not have a required license, was a “verbatim reiteration” of the document forwarded by Ilao, issued without approval from four members of Contractors Board, and constituted a fraud, according to the auditor’s reports.
Ticket counters are void of travellers during a midday visit to the A.B. Won Pat International Airport in Tamuning on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.
In the complaint, JMI alleges that the Office of Public Accountability was incorrect in ruling that support from four members of the contractor’s board was required, and that “the OPA incorrectly made no distinction between actions by the 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.”
The dismissal of the protest was improper, with no prior notice, and did not allow JMI an opportunity to be heard on the matter, documents state.
The airport also did not keep proper records of the award, the complaint alleges.
According to the documents, JMI made a Freedom of Information Act request to the airport for the proposals submitted for the baggage handling system on Aug. 31, 2021. A timely response was not given and Ilao made a formal inquiry to the Contractors Board about Menzies’ licensing status on Sep. 13, 2021. Ilao also filed a complaint with the board against Menzies.
The airport responded to JMI’s record request on Sep. 17, 2021, which “did not include the proposal or parts of the proposal, submitted by Menzies,” the document states. That same day, Contractors Board personnel emailed JMI saying that neither Menzies nor its parent entity were licensed by the Contractors Board.
