Top Menu

Saints ballpark design/construction reward under review

New St. Paul Saints ballpark

Though St. Paul officials say nothing is amiss, Minnesota officials are viewing whether the decision to award the design/construction contracts for a new St. Paul Saints (independent; American Association) ballpark with no competitive bidding violates state guidelines.

The issue: usually government contracts are awarded after some kind of competitive bidding, but after the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded $25 million toward the $54-million project, the city almost immediately awarded a contract for design/build to a trio of vendorsRyan, AECOM and Julie Snow Architects — with no competitive bidding.

St. Paul’s stance: the award from the state didn’t require a competitive bidding process, so the awards could be made immediately. Whether that’s true or not will first be informally judged by the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget; a formal legal decision from the attorney general’s office may be next.

Image courtesy St. Paul Saints.

RELATED STORIES: No reason to worry about gap in Saints ballpark funding — yet; Design/build team announced for new Saints ballparkSaints, Huskies ballparks pitched for Minnesota state fundsSt. Paul: We’ll request economic-development funds for new Saints ballparkAffiliated ball in St. Paul? Don’t hold your breathDuluth: We’ll continue seeking state fund for Wade Stadium renovationsDuluth Huskies unveil renovation plan for Wade Stadium; St. Paul officials confident in scoring state aid for Saints ballparkSaints ballpark funding alive — but just barelyState aid for Saints ballpark coming down to the wireSaints ballpark bill suffers setback in state SenateSt. Paul close to acquiring land for new Saints ballparkSaints ballpark funding passes hurdleSaints ballpark funding part of state bonding bill

 —-

Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.

Are you a subscriber to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter? You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.

Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!

Follow Ballpark Digest on Google + and add us to your circles!

, , , , , , , , ,