DENVER — A construction company settled bid-rigging claims in a Denver convention center expansion project with a promise of a state payment and a component aimed at helping the response to the coronavirus pandemic, the state attorney general said Monday.
Mortenson Construction is expected to pay $650,000 to the state and has agreed to donate construction services on a yet-to-be-determined project related to COVID-19, The Denver Post reports.
Mortenson’s donated work and materials must be worth at least the same amount as the fine, making the antitrust settlement’s value at least $1.3 million.
Attorney General Phil Weiser announced the first major resolution in Denver’s bidding scandal in a statement Monday.
The city halted its planned $233 million rooftop expansion project at the Colorado Convention Center in December 2018 when Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced officials had fired project management firm Trammell Crow Co.
Hancock cited evidence that Trammell Crow shared project-related information improperly with Mortenson, one of three bidders. Minneapolis-based Mortenson denied the allegations but President and CEO Dan Johnson acknowledged the company “did not meet our own expectations.”
The firm resolved the convention center claim “without adjudication or finding of liability,” but Mortenson’s involvement ” was neither consistent with who we are as a company nor our longstanding reputation,” Johnson said Monday.
The company agreed in a separate settlement with Denver in July that it would not bid on any city projects until at least March 2021, but the attorney general’s office continued with criminal and civil investigations.
The investigation of Dallas-based Trammell Crow is ongoing, Weiser’s office said.
“The silver lining is Coloradans will benefit from additional resources to respond to needs we have from the COVID-19 pandemic in our state,” Weiser said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
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