On Thursday, March 2, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to end a contract with Samet on a $23.9 million project that included demolishing the old Guilford County jail in downtown Greensboro and building a new Sheriff’s Department headquarters and parking lot.
Until now, no one has given a reason for the ongoing dispute.
However, on Friday, March 3, Samet Corp. sent out a detailed explanation of that company’s account of what happened. The decision by the Board of Commissioners to kill the giant contract came down to a disagreement over the process used to engage the participation of Minority and Women owned business enterprises (MWBE) in the project.
The March 3 statement from Samet said the company’s leaders are “deeply disappointed” that Guilford County government “unreasonably” terminated the contract.
The statement begins: “Samet has a long-standing and deep commitment to Guilford County and to equity, inclusion, and diversity on its construction work for the County. On the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Building project, Samet achieved over 40 percent minority and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) participation of the total trade cost, which exceeds the 10 percent state baseline for MWBE. Of that, 15.9 percent was Black-owned enterprise participation, which exceeded participation by any other minority group.”
Samet adds, “The County acted improperly by instructing, after the subcontractor-bid process was completed in compliance with all laws and County policies, that Samet identify and hire additional Black-owned subcontractors outside of the bid process.”
A Samet employee who objected to the demand made a remark that by all accounts was harsh and indefensible, and Samet ended up firing the employee.
“After an internal investigation by outside counsel, Samet terminated the employment of a project employee who demonstrated their frustration with the request and openly questioned the validity of the County’s directive,” Samet wrote in its statement. “The tenor of the employee’s remarks were inconsistent with Samet’s values and commitments.”
Samet went on to describe the company’s values and successes with regard to diversity and inclusion on projects and notes that the company has been widely recognized by county leaders and business publications as a fair and equitable employer.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said he’s not currently able to present Guilford County’s side of the issue – but he stated strongly that the fault did not lie with the county.
“There are two sides to every story, but I am not at liberty to say what we discussed in executive session,” Alston said of the board’s Thursday, March 2 two-hour meeting the Board of Commissioners held behind closed doors that immediately preceded the board’s vote to terminate the contract that had made Samet the Construction Manager At Risk for the entire project.
Now the county will rebid Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the work.. Phase 1 is already substantially complete.
“I can assure you there will be a response from our attorney,” Alston added.
“The fact that our vote was unanimous should tell you something,” Alston said, noting that Republicans and Democrats alike on the board were in complete agreement on the decision to pull out of the contract with Samet.
Republican Commissioner James Upchurch was attending the meeting remotely however a telephone glitch prevented him from voting. Alston said that Upchurch was in agreement with the rest of the board.
The statement from Samet called the termination of the contract “counterproductive to the County’s stated goals” and said the decision affects dozens of subcontractors and that a total of $8.7 million of MWBE subcontracts were being affected.
Samet also stated that the delay will increase the county’s cost on the project.
“Furthermore,” it states, “every trade-package bid is now public record, making it extremely difficult for those subcontractors that were determined the lowest responsible bidder for their respective bid package to rebid and win under a new general contractor or construction manager.”
I seems to me that the Samet statement is filled with their virtual-signalling wokie ESG statements. So not matter how much you follow the LEFTIST line, it is never enough. They always want more.
I have no regard for Samet, or out local govt. I think that in their zeal to get power & money, the Democrat Party has enabled this wokie crap inn order to expand their voter base. Open borders is also, just for that purpose.
By the way, isn’t a “contract” a deal?
You will learn to play ball when you realize who owns the court and the ball. This is Guilford county not Stokes. Remember that and act accordingly
You are a hoot.
You sound just like a White Supremacist from the 1950’s, Big City. Are you white?
When you exceed your contract expectations on that court, and get canned for political gain, you take the owner to a higher court and show them whose balls are bigger.
Good work, Scott!
“On Monday, Mar. 2,”?
The first clause in the first sentence in the article?
Aren’t Guilford/Greensboro politicians the worst? Won’t be surprised when they introduce Lori Lightheaded of Chicago fame as new the something or other and get paid millions. Can’t wait for the next county property tax hike.
If it wasn’t so sad it would be laughable based on the premise of MWBE. The purpose of the program was to insure equity and inclusion. It accomplishes those goal by excluding everyone who is not a person of color or gender. So much for equity and inclusion. Instead you get an artificial, feel good scenario, which often cost the taxpayer in the end. What happened to the premise of the best company with the best price for the taxpayer gets the job? I’m sorry, stupid question, I forgot who was in charge. Like Obama said (I can’t believe I’m quoting him). “Elections have consequences.”
BJ is right.
The Left imposed Affirmative Action and MWBE (= white men need not apply), and then they complain about “institutionalized racism”!
If those programs aren’t institutionalized racism, what is?
You can thank “Great Society” LBJ for affirmative action. A positive term for a negative thought.
Aren’t people of any color capable of improving their lot in life? Or is it just the taxpayer?
That’s why it’s so insulting to black people. It implies they are helpless and incapable of independently improving their lot.
One word to explain this: WOKE. If you follow the money you will soon realize that some of the CC are vested in the MWBE program that will benefit them personally. If Samet had already completed the bid process and followed the rules as they have stated they did then someone with pull with the board did not like the outcome. Corruption is the name of the game and using the MWBE program as an excuse is how the game is played. What about the small business white man, how does he fit into this scenario. Now the rebid will be unfair to those that bid and won with Samet because the bids are public knowledge, so did this really help those MWBE programs?
Obviously skips not going to be happy unless it’s all black withers on the project, let’s just go across the street get all the criminals out of jail
(95%) black population put them to work. That will solve the problem and make skip happy
How can any sane person believe that the color of someone’s skin makes them qualified to perform a job, any job. MWBE is insane, unfair and costly. There are demands placed on businesses that have nothing to do with bidding on a project. The City of Greensboro, Guilford County and other cities and counties and corporations promote equity, inclusion, and diversity, except for White people. Actually, to speak the truth, Blacks expect special treatment simply because they are black. What they accuse others of is what they are guilty of themselves. It is past time to end MWBE. It is past time to end affirmative action. It is past time to stop spending valuable resources prompting MWBE.
Not only does Greensboro and Guilford County expect minorities (Blacks) to receive preferential bidding consideration, which has nothing to do with qualifications, large contractors are forced to hire minority (Black) subcontractors which opens the door for the large contractor to be sued by the subcontractor for perceived discrimination.
The City of Greensboro and Guilford County cannot run effectively without large contractors like Samet. If I were a large contractor, I would say to hell with Greensboro and Guilford County. I would find work from some other source. Let them drown in their own slop.
White contractors and big white corporations have dominated the market for years. We desire the same opportunities as others. We seldom get the same opportunities. Your okay with blacks working as long as they under control or under the foot of whites and white owned corporations .
So how much more money will skips hurt feelings cost Guilford taxpayers. It’s time for this bulls$$t to end
So just exactly how much more is this going to cost the Guilford County taxpayers?? There are more important things that could be done with the taxpayers money! Ridiculous!
MWBE, everyone’s worst nightmare.
Childish, racist, ridiculous.
This is why I never bid on govt contracts. It’s a rigged game and not worth the effort
Somebody’s friend/relative probably needs the work.
Not sure of the real facts but another SNAFU…all based on race…only in the Guilford County-Greensboro area. You voted them in so enjoy the muck ups.
No, not “ONLY in the Guilford County-Greensboro area.” This is happening all around the country but not reported on the nightly news. If you were to read local papers around the nation you’d know the same issues were hindering government and commercial building and purchasing throughout the country and costing taxpayers billions. It’s just not something anyone talks about.
Skip is straight cancer on this town.
Move the hell out of Guilford County before Alston’s mafia takes all of taxpayers money.
Common sense isn’t so common anymore, but damn, our tax dollars should be spent wisely and those spending it held accountable for it.
The government could mess up just about anything. I say that with absolute certainty. I’ve worked in government nearly several decades and have seen it from many angles. We need far less of it. Libertarian principles state most things would do better handled by private sector entities and I see the truth in that more and more. Just contract with someone who will get the job done and let them handle the details. MWBE considerations are nothing more than micromanagement of the contractor hired to handle the job at hand. The only race that matters is the human race. Until that sinks in and people stop making an issue of race/gender and/or making demands for those same reasons there will be related problems in society.
From all appearances, our commissioners could benefit greatly from reading more works of Thomas Sowell & Jordan Peterson and less George Orwell.
Disparity is not discrimination: https://youtu.be/C-RuKiFDIeU
So the job hasn’t been done yet because some county commissioners are racists. They aren’t judging the company by the quality of their work but by the skin color and sex of the subcontractors. If MLK knew about it, he would be turning over in his grave!
MWBE like equity and inclusion are modern terms for discrimination.
Hopefully, Samet will sue the Guilford County Commissioners. They had 40% MWBE participation, but because only 15.9 was for Black contractors, they were deemed to have failed. Remember what MWBE stands for “Minority, WOMEN, Black Enterprises”. There are no provisions for the percentages of Women versus Black enterprises. If the commissioners were to try to place restrictions on the percentages, then they would be sued for discrimination by women and other minorities. They are so fixated on black participation that they cannot function within the MWBE program. Therefore, it should be scrapped. Let free enterprise take over.
Diversity hires are so successful. Not.
Skip and GC /Greensboro, Equality is what we want to achieve. If you want to be equal, act like you are equal. Quit making rules and obstacles that show you need advantages. Even if you “give” work to Black companies (they don’t really count women owned businesses, Asian, hispanic, etc.) there are other black owned companies that you looked over. I bet work is given to only 1% of the available Black companies, over and over which shows favoritism within that demographic. STOP THE GAMES! Get back to making good business decisions and protect out taxpayer interest. All of our interest….
Skip alston Is a racist always has been always will be. But the really bad thing about skip is he doesn’t even really care about his people it’s power and money he craves the most.
I did capital project management for 15 years. Built manufacturing facilities worldwide. One was in Greensboro with Samet chosen as our General Contractor. Samet was one of a few bidders that I considered honest. And turned out to be highly capable for our project by achieving specifications and aggressive timetables. Samet is among the best.
Capital projects can be very good or very bad. Because of the dollars involved, projects are susceptible to mismanagement and worse. A scenario of mandating more contractors (of any color) after bids are sealed and accepted is a trigger for an investigation. I would be checking for organized crime-style make-work, direct kickbacks, or pay-for-play. I have no knowledge of any misconduct by the County. But would suggest an outside State agency review and follow the project.
I’m no fan Skip Alston but I’m interested in hearing what the Guilford County Commissioners attorney has to say in response to Samet’s comments. It is odd to stop a project if all of the MWBE criteria was met to complete phase 1. So what changed so dramatically for the County Commissioners to cancel the contract & create a delay?
And of course Guilford taxpayers will pay dearly for their virtue signaling nonsense.
And then they will vote for the same fools.
This sounds like bid rigging by Guilford. Taxpayers get your wallets out
I agree with everyone about everything. But you have to throw the bums out at the polls.