Emergency procurement letter for rooftop work, May 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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also visible on horizontal surfaces on building facades. This debris, characteristic of debris from the impact of the September 11* attacks, seemed to have reformed into dense caked masses. Samples collected from buildings visited indicated that asbestos-containing material may be present.

DEP, in conjunction with EPA, determined that an expedited clean-up of approximately 250 debris­ containing buildings is necessary to protect the health and safety of the public. Such clean-up will require the services of asbestos remediation firms. In order to perform the clean-up work as expeditiously as possible, it was decided to divide the area to be cleaned into three sectors, and therefore, three separate contracts were let. The instant contract. Contract ROF-REM2, is for those buildings included in Sector 2.

Procurement: DEP’s Bureau of Environmental Compliance identified fourteen contractors able to perform the scope of work required for the emergency asbestos remediation, and established the following bidder list:

Benjamin Kurzban & Son Control, Inc. Mazzocchi Wrecking, Inc. PAL Environmental Safety Corp. Hazardous Elimination Corp. Asbestos Removal, Corp. Safeway Environmental Corp. Pinnacle Environmental Corp. Fiber Control, Inc. Air Tech Lab, Inc. Kiss Construction Co., Inc. Complete Environmental Services, Inc. Empire Control Abatement LVI Environmental Services, Inc. Trio Asbestos Removal Corp.

On March 28, 2002, the solicitation documents were provided to the fourteen firms. Nine bids were submitted, and all opened on the April 12, 2002 bid date. The lowest bid, $1,292,465, was submitted by PAL Environmental Corp. (“PAL”). However, PAL submitted a two page letter containing “clarifications” with its bid. Therefore, PAL’s bid was determined to be non-responsive and rejected. Concurrent with the determination of non-responsiveness, pursuant to §2-08(e)(3) of the PPB Rules, the automatic stay of award of the Contract was lifted,. The second lowest bid, $1,401,000, submitted by Benjamin Kurzban & Son (“Kurzban”), was determined to be the lowest responsive bid.

A review of the Vendex database shows one caution for Kurzban from DEP’s Environmental Control Board (“ECB”). The violation was due to Kurzban’s failure to comply with several regulations at a work-site. Specifically, Kurzban was cited for failure to construct a worker decontamination system, failure to maintain air volume changes, and failure to remove all movable

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