By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

An Orlando-based ready mix concrete company has filed a bid protest against the Osceola County School District and two School Board members alleging “irregularities, improprieties and defects” in the bidding procedures, which cost it the $74,000 contract.

In a 27-page letter to the School District’s director of purchasing Cheryl L. Olson dated March 11, Bedrock Industries’ attorney, Robert B. Worman, outlined reasons why the concrete company, which previously held the concrete contract with the district the past three years, should be overturned and awarded to Bedrock.

The three-year, $74,000 contract was solely awarded to Prestige AB Management Company March 1 despite staff recommendations to split the contract between Prestige and Bedrock.

“At no time during the performance contract did Bedrock Industries ever receive notice of any complaints by the School District as to its service or products,” Worman wrote.

Bedrock Industries, owned by Lou Deberadinis, of Celebration, claims its bid to extend its contract after it expired in December was thwarted by prejudice from School Board Chairman Cindy Hartig and illegal tactics by School Board Member Tom Long.

The original bid, which was opened Nov. 9, invited companies with front discharge cement trucks only to apply. According to a letter dated Feb. 18 from Deberadinis to Olson, only four companies in Central Florida own such trucks; other ready mix concrete companies use rear discharge cement trucks.

On Dec. 6, staff recommended the district rebid the contract to “maximize competition” and rewrite the contract to include cement delivery from both front- and rear-discharge trucks.

In an email from Hartig dated Dec. 7, just hours before the School Board meeting was to start, she wrote to Olson and then-Superintendent Michael A. Grego that “an ex-board member works for Bedrock; an ex-board member is building a house for the owner of Bedrock; Bedrock is only one of two companies that have front discharge trucks; and (the) reality is the front discharge is not needed, most (construction managers at risk) will not use them.”

Hartig recently confirmed the ex-board member she mentioned is John McKay, who owns JGM Management Services, a construction consulting firm, in St. Cloud. However, both Hartig and Long declined to comment on the bid protest, citing pending litigation. School Board attorney Larry Brown is handling the case.

Campaign records filed with the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections show various interests closely tied to Bedrock Industries contributed at least $3,000 to McKay’s 2006 re-election campaign and it was Long who beat McKay in the 2010 run-off election.

Some of the same Bedrock Industries interests contributed at least $2,000 to McKay’s election campaign in 2002. However, there were no apparent contributions to McKay from these interests for the 2010 election.

Furthermore, McKay, when he started his consulting firm in 2003, operated out of 365 Taft Vineland Road, Orlando, an address that is 1.8 driving miles from Bedrock Industries, which is at 10500 Rocket Court. McKay also now has an office at the Bedrock Industries facility.

While Worman acknowledged Deberadinis’ house is being built by “a contractor who has previously served on the School District’s Board,” he denied Hartig’s other statements, calling them “inaccurate facts and innuendo.”

Long also is singled out in the bid protest, with Bedrock alleging he improperly contacted potential School District vendors after the solicitation of bids had begun for the contract. In an email dated Jan. 27, Long requested a list of the local vendors notified about the bid but who did not respond and copies of all bids already submitted for the ready mix cement contract.

Olson wrote in a Jan 28 email to Grego and other top School District administrators that she was “concerned” about comments several vendors had made, telling her Long had contacted them about soliciting a bid for the concrete contract. She cited a School Board rule that specifically states “there should be no contact between the vendors and any employees, board members, etc. until after the solicitation has been issued.”

“A violation will result in the vendor being disqualified,” Olson wrote. “It would be very unfortunate for one of our local vendors to be disqualified from our current bids that are open.”

An administrative hearing is scheduled for May 24 at 9 a.m. in the facilities conference room at the School District, located at 817 Bill Beck Blvd. in Kissimmee, to discuss the bid protest. The meeting is open to the public.

Ethics complaints filed

Hartig and Long also are at the center of two complaints filed last month by St. Cloud realtor Billy Shepherd with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

The complaint filed against Hartig questions her voting record as a School Board member and whether her votes benefited her private interests and the interests of relatives, friends or business partners, according to published reports.

A separate Government in the Sunshine Law violation complaint was filed against both Hartig and Long alleging Hartig abused her position as School Board chairman and interfered with school staff. Shepherd also named Hartig and Long in the same complaint alleging they benefited from inside information obtained by their positions on the School Board, published reports also stated.

Shepherd himself would not comment specifically to the News-Gazette on the complaints, stating he wants to allow the commission to decide the matter.

“I don’t know how ethical it would be on my part to discuss it,” Shepherd said Thursday.

Shepherd did say he may be willing to attend the Ethics Commission hearing in Tallahassee, although he has yet to hear when the hearing may take place.

Shepherd also helped finance a third-party campaign mailer sent out at the tail end of the 2010 School Board election that was favorable to McKay. The flier, mailed out by Millennium Consulting, McKay’s campaign consultant at the time, pointed out that McKay was a Republican. School Board elections in Florida are nonpartisan.