CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State officials are trying to find ways to diversify the number of contractors who are working on new homes for the victims of the major flood that hit West Virginia more than three years ago.
State auditors told members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding that one company has dominated the bidding for hundreds of homes and contracts worth millions of dollars.
The auditors did not indicate anything illegal or improper has occurred. But bidding has resulted in very little competition.
Thompson Construction of North Carolina has won 10 of 12 active construction projects, testified Adam Fridley, a manager in the Legislature’s Post Audit Division.
That has amounted to 309 homes with a total contracted value of $46 million.
“Based on our limited review it does appear each of these contracts were competitively bid, awarded to the low bidder and we have seen nothing at this point that present any issues to the contracts themselves,” Fridley told lawmakers.
Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer, the state’s point man on flood relief, clarified that there are two additional contracts beyond the ones Fridley had summarized.
State officials have been talking about ways to entice additional contractors to bid on the work, either in the form of outreach efforts to local contractor organizations or through potential tweaks to purchasing laws aimed.
“It is obvious that we have the dominance of one contractor in this process,” Delegate Dean Jeffries, R-Kanawha, said after Tuesday evening’s meeting. “Is that what we want? No. We’d like to see more people involved. We’d like to see more local contractors involved.
“We’re working on getting more local contractors involved whether it be lowering or do away with the bond. There’s different things we’ve got to look at to figure it out. We are making progress on some legislation that will hopefully bring more contractors into this process.”
Another member of the flood committee, Senator Glenn Jeffries, agreed that more needs to be done to promote competition.
“Lots of us have concerns that being one contractor — that’s a problem that we’re having as far as getting homes completed,” said Jeffries, D-Putnam. “So we’re hopefully addressing this with new legislation we’re going to be looking at.”
Those leading the flood relief effort said they have reviewed 1,400 cases with another 150 to examine for eligibility.
Right now, there are 394 cases under RISE West Virginia.
Of those, 331 have been awarded to a construction contractor or subrecipient. There are 64 homes in active construction, which officials often describe as “hammers and nails.”
There are 81 homes complete.
“We’d like to see the pace even quicker. We’d like to see more foundations being put in,” Senator Jeffries said.
Hoyer told members of the flood committee that a top priority right now is laying foundations before winter weather hits. With foundations in place, construction on other aspects of housing can continue through the frost, he said.
“What we’re looking at is trying to get as many foundations as close to December 31 as possible,” he said.