Will a two-letter typo cost King County taxpayers $2 million?

The owner of a local construction company said a minor clerical error — the omission of “Re” in the word “Rebid” — could end up costing King County taxpayers an extra $2 million on a wastewater construction project serving Bellevue and Newcastle.

Last year, King County requested bids for the Coal Creek Trunk Pipeline upgrade, a wastewater project aimed at meeting the growing needs of Bellevue and Newcastle residents. Frank V. Coluccio Construction Company (FVC), a contractor with more than 50 years of experience, was the sole bidder. However, their proposal exceeded the county’s budget expectations. In hopes of attracting more competitive pricing, the county decided to reopen the bidding process.

The clerical error and its impact

According to FVC, during the rebidding, they submitted a bid of $94.5 million, while another company submitted a bid of approximately $2 million higher. Despite FVC’s lower offer, the county awarded the contract to the higher bidder. The reason, FVC claimed, was that FVC had mistakenly used the word “Bid” instead of “Rebid” on their submission form. FVC said this was simply a typo. But county officials, FVC asserts, refused to consider their proposal due to this discrepancy.

“It’s beyond crazy,” company owner Frank Coluccio said in an interview with KIRO Newsradio. “They’re trying to tell us that due to an irregularity in our bid form — which was identical except that the one we submitted this time said ‘Bid’ instead of ‘Rebid’ — they’re not going to consider our proposal.”

This isn’t the first time FVC was the low bidder on this project. Last year, they were the only company to submit a bid, which led to the initial rebidding process.

“They’re saying that it doesn’t have the word ‘Rebid’ on it,” Coluccio explained. “So, ‘You didn’t use our right form, so we’re not going to consider your proposal.'”

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Perspective of King County

Ken Guy, King County’s Director of Finance and Business Operations, acknowledged that the county is reviewing FVC’s request for reconsideration regarding the rejected bid.

“King County’s chief procurement officer initially rejected the bid stating that FVC did not compile and submit the proper bid forms, and this was not considered to be a minor irregularity that could be waived,” Guy stated in a response to KIRO Newsradio and MyNorthwest.

Coluccio emphasized that his company has been in the construction business for over 50 years and has extensive experience with projects of this nature. He asserted that the competing company does not have more expertise in handling such work.

“I’ve been in the business going on almost 50-plus years now,” he said. “We’ve seen our share of bid protests and irregularities being waived — the owner rectifying or making small corrections to bids. But nothing this crazy, to toss a bid over such a small irregularity — it makes zero sense to me.”

He stressed that FVC has a long-standing reputation for successfully completing similar projects and that there is no substantial reason, aside from the minor clerical error, for the county to favor the higher bid.

Coluccio said when he tells people about this story, it leads them to question the county’s fiscal responsibility, especially in light of current budget constraints and essential services facing cuts.

“As a taxpayer, $2 million, for essentially missing two letters? That’s crazy,” he remarked.

FVC’s attorney, Robert Marconi of the Seattle law firm Ashbaugh Beal, shared similar concerns in a press release.

“King County authorities are required to waive minor irregularities and arithmetical errors when it is in the county’s and taxpayers’ best interest, and we fully expected them to do so in our client’s case,” Marconi stated. “Instead, King County somehow came to a different conclusion, one that will cost taxpayers nearly $2 million, at a time when county agencies are struggling to fund existing services.”

Appeal to King County officials

Coluccio hopes that higher officials will intervene before the situation escalates.

“We have appealed it to the finance director to clarify that situation,” he said. “I’m sure this individual, who is supposed to use good fiscal responsibility, will see that he has the tools and is well within the law — it states that they can make changes to very minor irregularities, which this is.”

Efforts to reach King County council members have so far been unsuccessful.

“We’ve just recently reached out, and we haven’t heard anything back yet,” Coluccio said. “Some of the responses we’ve received—people just can’t understand it; their mouths have dropped open.”

Ken Guy reiterated that the matter is under review and a final decision will be made soon.

“As King County’s Director of Finance &and Business Operations, I am currently reviewing a request for reconsideration from Frank V. Coluccio Construction Company regarding a rejected bid on a large wastewater conveyance project (Coal Creek Trunk Upgrade),” Guy stated. “At this time, it would not be appropriate to make any further comments until a final decision is rendered on FVC’s request for reconsideration.”

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Possible legal action

When asked about a fair resolution, Coluccio was clear: “It’s a very simple solution, they just award us the job, and we get on with it, and we build it for the county.”

He emphasized that legal action is a last resort.

“We have legal avenues we could go down if we had to, but we don’t want to go down that road,” he noted. “He has to do the right thing by the community and just award the job, and let’s get this thing built so that we can upgrade that system up there.”

Marconi echoed this sentiment in the press release, stating, “If the county doesn’t act in the interest of its taxpayers, our remaining step is filing suit, something we would like to avoid but will do so if we are forced.”

The decision now rests with Ken Guy, the King County Finance Director, who has the authority to reconsider and overrule the previous decision.

“A final decision is expected within the next week or two,” Guy said.

Coluccio remains hopeful. “We’re awaiting his decision, and we’ll see where that goes,” he said. “The county’s got 2 million reasons why they need to get this right.”

Charlie Harger is the news director for MyNorthwest and KIRO Newsradio. Follow Charlie on X here and email him here

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