LA firm recommended for $1.6B Miami-Dade sewer project

A special committee has advised that Miami-Dade County give an $80 million contract to Los Angeles-based Fortune 500 company AECOM for its massive sewer-system project.

AECOM beat out CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based consulting, design, construction and operations services firm, to manage the $1.6 billion system upgrade to eliminate sewage overflows. Mayor Carlos Gimenez had appointed a committee to make a recommendation based on both proposals.

The winning team had accused CH2M of “grossly misrepresenting” its qualifications.

AECOM, which provides technical and management services, “claimed they had 28 consent decrees in which they have worked as the prime consultant, but their submittals accurately reflected they had one or maybe two,” CH2M’s legal counsel, Al Dotson of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, told Daily Business Review. “It looks like they won by grossly exaggerating their experience, and we plan to make sure the mayor and others are aware of what took place.”

The county was able to finish upgrades to a pair of pump stations in Coconut Grove and Coral Gables in advance of a Nov. 30 deadline agreed upon by Miami-Dade and City of Miami officials, as The Real Deal reported. [Daily Business Review] — Mark Maurer