Maryland approves $50.3 million contract for Key Bridge cleanup

BALTIMORE — The Maryland Board of Public Works approved a $50.3 million no-bid contract Wednesday to clean up and remove debris from the Patapsco River following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

“While we are very, very proud that the work at the Port of Baltimore has now commenced, and there’s traffic and our workers are back — which we’re very excited about, we’re also very, very clear this work is not done,” Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said at the board meeting in Annapolis Wednesday.

The emergency contract was initially awarded to Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. in April. Because of a change in state procurement law, it was placed on Wednesday’s agenda for Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Chief Deputy Treasurer Jonathan D. Martin to consider.

Under state law, the governor, comptroller and state treasurer serve on the three-person Board of Public Works. Martin stood in for state Treasurer Dereck Davis, who was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed debris from the federal channel. The Maryland Transportation Authority bears the responsibility of removing the remaining debris, which includes large portions of highway bridge trusses, steel girders, the bridge deck and concrete parapets.

Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc. was selected because it was already contracting with the state for the Transportation Authority’s Harry W. Nice/Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridgereplacement project.

Marshall Brown of the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust objected to the state’s emergency contract with the company Wednesday, saying Maryland had an appropriate amount of time to allow for contract bids for its portion of the cleanup because the Army Corps of Engineers had the primary responsibility to clear debris.

“Maryland’s procurement process is designed to be fair, competitive, transparent and unbiased,” Brown said. “This no-bid contract does not meet those standards.”

The Key Bridge was struck by the cargo ship Dali the morning of March 26, causing the bridge to crumble, the deaths of six construction workers and the choking off of a significant portion of the port’s shipping channel.

The channel reopened, in full, on June 10, and the Dali finally departed about two weeks later.

Requests for proposals for a redesign of the bridge were due in late June. The Maryland Transportation Authority is poised to award that contract later this summer.

Moore applauded President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, for including a 100% federal cost share for the reconstruction of the bridge in the president’s supplemental budget presented to Congress last Friday.

Moore, who has been designated as a key Democrat in Biden’s reelection campaign, has traveled the country in recent weeks to stump for the president.

The governor said he has met with “hundreds of leaders in the White House and on Capitol Hill” over the past week to discuss moving forward with Maryland’s effort to move forward with its bridge recovery efforts.

“The Port of Baltimore is an essential artery for economic flow and economic activity across the country and, to put it simply, our focus on getting this done is not about nostalgia,” Moore said. “It’s about necessity.”

-------