Thursday, August 10, 2000 Older Editions

New tactic slows schools-job start

By Rebecca Piro

In a new effort to disqualify low-bidding contractor John T. Callahan & Sons from getting the Andover schools job, rival contractor Neponset Valley has filed a complaint against Callahan in Middlesex Superior Court.

Neponset is hoping a judge will rule that Callahan illegally changed its bid during a public opening July 13, and therefore cannot be awarded the Cross Street schools project.

Neponset filed its complaint after withdrawing a bid protest against Callahan & Sons from the attorney general's office last Thursday.

"What (Neponset Valley) is requesting the judge to do is to order the town to disqualify Callahan and award (the project) to Neponset," said town counsel Tom Urbelis.

At the July 13 bid opening, town purchasing agent Elaine Shola asked Callahan to initial a figure on an alternate amount after the contractor's bid was read, said Joe Piantedosi, plant and facilities director.

Vice President Steve Callahan, who considers the protest a "non-issue," had said in an earlier interview that the number was initially written as $60,000, and was later changed to $67,000. But all changes were complete before the bids were opened, Callahan said.

Shola says she simply wanted to confirm the correct number, which she read out loud as $67,000. "I hesitated for a moment (as I was reading), and I made up in my mind that it looked like $67,000," said Shola.

She waited until she was finished reading the entire bid before asking Callahan to initial the $67,000 figure as correct.

This will be the first court hearing the town has been pulled into over a bid dispute in the three years that Elaine Shola has been the town's purchasing agent.

"I feel that the way things were done was done appropriately, and that (Neponset) doesn't have a real issue," she said. "I didn't allow (the Callahan representative) to change anything."

Shola says the court hearing could just be a tactic to delay the project and force the town to reject Callahan. "(Neponset) is trying to slow (the process) up," she said.

But Neponset Valley filed a complaint that claims that Shola was unable to read the number at all during the bid opening, said Piantedosi.

Neponset Valley was not able to be reached for comment.

If the lowest bidder is disqualified from the running, the town is obligated under Massachusetts General Law to award the project to the second lowest bidder - which in this case is Neponset, said Urbelis. However, Callahan could then appeal the decision, which could lead to more delays.

As of the Townsman's Wednesday deadline, the hearing was scheduled to begin Thursday at 2 p.m. No testimony will be given, and the hearing should be a one-day affair, Urbelis said.