NC firm says its bid to manage Helene homebuilding was improperly disqualified

Yahoo

6 days ago

Flood debris piles left in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Bat Cave, North Carolina. (Photo by)
A North Carolina-based firm that submitted a bid to manage the state's Hurricane Helene homebuilding program is alleging that its proposal was improperly disqualified.
IEM International, which is based in Morrisville, said in a statement to NC Newsline that it had filed a complaint with the NC Department of Commerce, which oversaw the contract process. And the firm is seeking to have the critical contract re-bid.
'The decision to disqualify IEM's compliant proposal without review or scoring is highly irregular and concerning,' the firm said in its statement.
The NC Department of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment sent Friday.
State officials awarded the contract earlier this month to Horne LLP, a Mississippi-based company, for $81.5 million. The firm is charged with implementing a $1.4 billion federal housing grant and overseeing multiple construction contractors to rebuild from the deadliest storm in state history.
Horne's selection has already drawn scrutiny from state lawmakers after the firm's previous contract, part of a troubled rebuild process in eastern North Carolina, was not renewed.
IEM was one of four other bidders on the state's solicitation for Helene. But its bid was deemed 'non-responsive' due to inadequate financial information, according to state officials and documents.
'The vendor did not submit required financial documentation, and per DCR's legal analysis, it was deemed non-responsive,' according to a memo from the department. That same memo shows that IEM's bid was not formally graded.
IEM said in their statement that the firm 'approached this (solicitation) with the seriousness it deserves,' and had provided 'three years of audited financial data.'
A copy of IEM's full offer, obtained by NC Newsline through public records request, includes a page that details the firm's balance sheet, income statement and cash flow data from three fiscal years.
The firm checked 'yes' when asked if the financial figures were based on audited statements. Under a section of the bid asking for a link to annual reports, the firm wrote: 'As a privately owned company, IEM's financial statements are not public. IEM can provide to DCR upon request.'
Financial details for Horne, whose bid was awarded and also obtained through public records, were redacted. The firm appears to have included pages of consolidated financial statements from 2022 and 2021 in an appendix to its bid.
Stephanie McGarrah, who leads the Department of Commerce division tasked with Helene recovery, told lawmakers on Thursday that she was 'personally very disappointed' about the result of IEM's bid.
'There are very few vendors in this space, and they had partners we were familiar with,' McGarrah said.
And asked if she would re-bid the contract with the knowledge of a recent settlement agreement by Horne, McGarrah said she would not.
'I do think we made the right decision,' she said.
IEM's proposed partners included Deloitte, Fahe, and Tetra Tech, according to the bid. And the firm had proposed tapping multiple partners based locally in western North Carolina: B-K Construction and Brucemont Communications.
According to North Carolina's administrative rules, a bidder can submit a protest within 30 days of an award being granted, detailing their reasoning and supporting documents.
That protest is received by the 'executive officer' for the department that made the purchase — in this case, Commerce. That official can determine the protest is 'meritless' and refuse a protest meeting within 10 days.
If the protest meeting is granted, it will be scheduled within 30 days of the bidder's request.
Details of the decision, regardless of outcome, are sent to the state purchasing officer, David O'Neal.
IEM, which has contracts globally, has worked with the state before. The firm won a bid in 2018, after Hurricane Matthew.
Three years later, it sued ReBuild NC, the troubled office that oversaw hurricane recovery in eastern North Carolina, for failing to pay related to contract work. That case was settled outside of court.
IEM Helene bid