When Guilford County contracted with Samet Corp. to conduct the demolition of the old county jail in downtown Greensboro and the construction of a new Guilford County Sheriff’s Department administrative building in its place, the whole thing ended as a giant $20 million trainwreck, one of the biggest debacles in the history of Guilford County government.
It was also a giant mystery since the county blames Samet and Samet blames the county and neither side is willing to publicly reveal the whole story.
However, that’s old news now. The new news is that Guilford County is ready to move on, and, to that end, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a contract with a new Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to handle the project. The item is on the agenda for the board’s Thursday, July 13 meeting.
A joint venture of Frank L. Blum Construction and W.C. Construction is the winner of the contract that previously totaled over $20 million.
Blum is a century-old firm headquartered in Winston-Salem with a presence in Greensboro.
Blum and WC Construction have a 7-year track record of joint-venture projects. WC Construction, one of the state’s largest African American firms, is also headquartered in Winston-Salem.
The new cost of the project is yet to be announced; however, the county is paying $92,400 to enter into a preconstruction contract with the joint venture in order to explore the way forward.
After killing the Samet deal earlier this year, Guilford County re-advertised the project on April 18 to complete the Sheriff’s Office Building project. It’s a three-phase project and Samet had just about finished Phase One when the sky fell in earlier this year.
Qualification packages were received on May 9 from three firms: Blum – WC Construction Joint Venture; Shelco, LLC; and Batson-Cook Company.
The three firms were interviewed by a panel consisting of facilities, budget, inspections, MWBE and sheriff’s staff. It was the unanimous decision of the review panel that the Blum-WC Construction Joint Venture was the most qualified to handle the job.
Ah yes….kickbacks out the wazoo! I wonder who decided on WC Construction? Qualification packages…wink wink!
It will be interesting as to how much more this contract will cost the taxpayers due to the silly fight.
I hope the reason Samet Corp. was not terminated due to the color of employees. Skip and company with this termination of contract also destroyed a Black owned company.
A racist is one who sees only color, the rest of US only see Character. GSO Mayor, city council and Skip would do well to remember this.
How much money has skip and commissioner(s) wasted of our tax dollars?
How much more will county spend with new contractor vs Samet? Total amount it cost county to make change?
And there’s the answer to the question why Samet was dismissed: “WC Construction, one of the state’s largest African American firms, is also headquartered in Winston-Salem.” Skippy has been pushing this agenda and with the record property tax increases, money is no issue. Just another boondoggle. Nothing to see here.
i heard on thwe street that the reason samet wasnt chosen is that they were not told prior to the bidding that thet hadnt incluxded any minority construction companies in their proposal.what nonsence.
Understand we already paid Samet to do the work
So we have basically just wasted 20 million dollars of the taxpayers money. I just read before this article about the county wanting to enforce a new prepared food tax maybe to make up some of the money they wasted. The only thing we ever hear is about raising taxes and never about cutting spending. Samet construction is a very well-known and established company. I found it hard to believe that they could not do the job required for the sheriff’s department. I think it has more to do about racism than qualifications of the construction company.
Frank L. Blum is a large construction company that could handle the project alone. W.C. Construction company is a Black-owned company that is not large enough or experienced enough to handle the project. Skippy wanted a Black-owned company for the contract but since there is not one around, an arrangement was orchestrated so that W.C. Construction could get a piece of the pie. Frank L. Blum is involved in construction for large, non-profit retirement homes like River Landing and Arbor Acres. It will be interesting to compare Samet’s proposed contract to Blum’s and W.C. Construction. Since the pie is to be divided between two contractors, watch for project delays and cost overruns. Skippy just had to get a minority involved. It seems reasonable to speculate that Samet resisted Skippy’s manipulative involvement in the bidding and contract process. Commissioners should be prohibited from getting involved in the bidding process. Skippy would say it was for the greater good, you know, equity, the end justifies the means. Do not be fooled, equality and equity are not the same.
These people won’t be happy until Greensboro is a giant shi+ hole.
This is a tottal scam to funnel money to a couple of Winston Salem firms, one of which was only included because they apparently have dark skin color.
I think Quentin Tarantino covered this at least once…
This is the biggest fiasco that has hit Guilford County lately. Samet should have been the one to handle this project. But NOOOOO! Skip Alston had to get involved and play the race card. If it doesn’t suit Alston then forget it. Just look at the additional money this will cost we tax payers. Just keep on voting for Alston and see where it gets you.
Hey skip as a Samet rep told you ( he should not have been fired for telling the truth ) this nothing but RACIAL BULLS$$T.