Federal Judge Denies Request to Halt St. Croix River Crossing Project

A federal judge denied C.S. McCrossan’s request to stop roadwork of the St. Croix River Crossing while the courts determine whether or not MnDOT illegally rejected its bid to construct the approach work for the $626 million project.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle put the federal case on hold until a separate lawsuit in the Minnesota Court of Appeals is resolved.

“Of course, we’re extremely disappointed with the decision,” Tom McCrossan, president of the Maple Grove-based company, told the Star Tribune. “The reason we’re pursuing this is solely to prevent the wasteful expenditure of taxpayer money.”

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Last month, McCrossan alleged that MnDOT improperly awarded a bid to construct the approach work for the $626 million river crossing project to Ames/Lunda, who had a lower technical score and a price tag of $6 million higher price tag than McCrossan’s bid.

Originally, C.S. McCrossan and Sons was the apparent best-value bidder, but upon further review of the contractor’s proposal, MnDOT found that McCrossan did not demonstrate a "good-faith effort" for hiring disadvantaged business enterprises, a requirement of all projects that receive federal funding.

Subsequently, the McCrossan proposal was rejected. MnDOT then awarded the contract to the next best-value bidder, the Ames/Lunda contracting team, which committed to the DBE hiring goal of 16.7 percent.

"Perhaps most damning to McCrossan's argument, however, is the fact that both Ames/Lunda and (a third bidder) were able to submit proposals meeting MnDOT's 16.7 percent goal for DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) participation," Judge Kyle wrote in his order, as reported by the Pioneer Press. "The court struggles to comprehend how McCrossan's equal-protection rights were violated when all three 'short-listed' contractors were subjected to the same DBE and good-faith efforts required in the regulations. ... All three contractors were operating on a level playing field, and two met the project's goal while McCrossan did not; there is simply no suggestion in the record that MnDOT's action benefited one contractor over another."

The Ames/Lunda bid was for $58 million. The C.S. McCrossan bid was for $52 million.

"If MnDOT had made the decision to award the contract to McCrossan, the state would have received the project that received the highest technical score for the least amount of money," McCrossan told Minnesota Public Radio. "Our DBE participation would have complied with the state and federal regulations."

MnDOT does not comment on issues currently in litigation.