Courthouse Investigation

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By Katie Ussin

Story Published: Jan 13, 2010 at 8:55 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jan 14, 2010 at 12:29 PM MDT

BILLINGS - The federal courthouse project in downtown Billings could be on hold until April following an investigation into how contracts were awarded.

In Washington, D.C. Wednesday morning, Congressman Denny Rehberg, R-Montana, met with officials from the General Services Administration, or GSA.

They discussed the protest Sletten Construction of Great Falls, Montana filed Monday with the Government Accountability Office. Sletten said its bid came in $8-million dollars less than the Minnesota firm that was awarded the $59-million dollar contract.

"When a project comes in $8-million dollars more than the lower price and they say price wasn't the determining factor, oh really, well how much of it was," questioned Rehberg in a conference call with Montana press Wednesday.

The GAO said the investigation could last until April 21. A GAO spokesperson said they have 100 days to make a decision from the day the protest was filed, which was January 11. Eight-million dollars in federal stimulus funds have been secured for the courthouse project.

Rehberg said he wants to make sure Montana firms are getting a fair chance at the contracts, "I want to know where the stimulus package is showing any consideration in the bidding process for the local contractors to make it do what we had intended for the stimulus package to do, to create or save jobs in Montana."

GSA said the investigation will not affect demolition work currently underway nor will it affect progress on a second building that is supposed to be privately-owned. They said they expect to begin accepting bids for that by late May or early June.

Rehberg also says congress was prepared to greenlight the courthouse project to be privately built and owned for a price tag of nearly $35-million dollars.

That all changed last April when it was announced that $80-million in stimulus dollars would be used for the government to build and own the courthouse.

Rehberg says he's pushing for more oversight by the government reform committee on stimulus spending in states.

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peteMT said on Monday, Jan 18 at 1:35 PM

I encourage everyone reading this to write Baucus, Tester, and Rehberg and encourage them to protest this questionable use of our tax dollars.

sletten project is beautiful said on Thursday, Jan 14 at 10:01 AM

sletten project is beautiful, classey!

Public Forum said on Wednesday, Jan 13 at 11:40 PM

What's the big deal. Someone connected to the Minnesota firm donated to the Obama campaign. GSA is throwing them a bone. Business as usual.

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