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 vendors — Ryan, 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 ballpark; Saints, Huskies ballparks pitched for Minnesota state funds; St. Paul: We’ll request economic-development funds for new Saints ballpark; Affiliated ball in St. Paul? Don’t hold your breath; Duluth: We’ll continue seeking state fund for Wade Stadium renovations; Duluth Huskies unveil renovation plan for Wade Stadium; St. Paul officials confident in scoring state aid for Saints ballpark; Saints ballpark funding alive — but just barely; State aid for Saints ballpark coming down to the wire; Saints ballpark bill suffers setback in state Senate; St. Paul close to acquiring land for new Saints ballpark; Saints ballpark funding passes hurdle; Saints ballpark funding part of state bonding bill
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