Bidding for construction at Giti Tire’s new plant in Chester County, S.C., has been halted until a lawsuit challenging the process has been resolved. This legal action pulls into question when construction on the plant might begin.
On Dec. 1, a circuit court judge issued a ruling prohibiting the county from continuing its bidding process under the terms established by its chief procurement officer, according to the Rock Hill Herald. The ruling leaves five approved bids for the job in limbo.
A lawsuit from Richardson Construction Co. claims it has been unfairly excluded from the bidding process because the county only accepted bids from the top five companies derived from a points system by the procurement office, Rock Hill Herald reported. The company said such “pre-qualification” violates both state and county policy for handling bids.
“Under the state code, pre-qualification can only be done by permission of the state engineer for projects with special considerations, like if the company must be so large, or it has to be done in such a hurry,” said Joseph Richardson, corporate counsel for Richardson Construction. “In the Chester County policy, the word ‘pre-qualification’ isn’t even in there.”
Richardson Construction said it doesn’t want to hinder the process of bidding but thinks the project should be open to all bidders.
The county’s economic director hopes the dispute can be resolved quickly and the bidding can get back on course. The county is expected to appear before the circuit court judge on Friday, Dec. 12.
Giti was set to break ground on its facility in January.
A spokeperson for Giti told Tire Review that the tiremaker could not comment at this time because it is under legal review.