FERGUSON CONSTRUCTION MAY HAVE WON CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS THROUGH UNFAIR BIDDING PROCESS

Text messages may have given heads-up on new contracts from Detroit former chief of staff

by HB Meeks/Editor-in-Chief

Detroit contractor Bobby Ferguson has been doing business with the City of Detroit for over 12 years. His company, Ferguson Enterprises also has worked  on private projects such as Comerica Park, Compuware, MGM Grand temporary building, renovations at Cobo Center, the Book-Cadillac Hotel restoration downtown and Ford Field.

This weekend reports have surfaced pointing to inside help on receiving certain jobs from the City.

According to a Detroit Free Press report, text messages, sent in  2002 and 2003, between Mayor Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff, suggest Ferguson may have received their help in giving him an unfair advantage to win lucrative awards amounting to at least $45 million.

Mr. Ferguson released a statement to Tell Us Detroit Saturday calling a story published by  the Detroit Free Press,  "a  fishing expedition grounded purely on circumstantial anecdotes and unrelated half-truths that attempt to connect purely unrelated issues for purposes that do not involve the truth or the facts."

He went on to say, "This story is not about Bobby Ferguson or Ferguson Enterprises. It is about minority contractors historically only performing 15% of the work on City contracts, whereas now qualified minority contractors can receive the opportunities to bid and perform 100% of the work. Therefore the issue is bigger than Ferguson Enterprises. It is about access and majority contractors being circumspect about qualified minorities being able to work directly in a meaningful capacity on City of Detroit projects.

Detroit Economic Growth Corp. Preside George Jackson, said in a Detroit Free Press interview Saturday he was not aware of any political interference with contract decisions made by the city's various development agencies.  He stated, "This is a completely public and transparent process."

Since Kilpatrick took office in 2002, Ferguson's business dealings with the city have broadened. He took a key role in an agency leading the downtown redevelopment effort.

Many vendors like Ferguson win contracts from officials who share social or political views and share visions of a better community. His company has received good grades for their work and have been among the lowest bidders on projects in Detroit.

Bobby Ferguson concluded, "Ferguson Enterprises has obtained its work from the City and City related agencies through public bids in which it was the lowest and most qualified bidder. It objects to any suggestion to the contrary and to any attempt to impugn its integrity or the integrity of its principals. It has never provided any service to any public official as a pre-condition to winning any of the public bids it has won over the years. Any suggestion to the contrary can only be viewed as a calculated and malicious attempt at harming the business reputation of a legitimate and qualified City of Detroit based minority contractor. To the extent that the premise underlying the Free Press's story hinges on ill-will or misperception of sources motivated by their own pecuniary gain, it will be challenged to the full extent that the law allows."