TALLAHASSEE – Six years right after the fatal collapse of a Florida International College pedestrian bridge, Tallahassee-based organizations affiliated with a bridge engineering company are combating a proposal that could prevent them from operating on federally funded initiatives.
9 companies and their proprietor, Linda Figg, filed a federal lawsuit previous week seeking to block the proposal by the Federal Freeway Administration. The companies are affiliated with FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc., which intended the Miami-Dade County pedestrian bridge and was barred in 2021 from performing on federally funded jobs until eventually 2029.
The lawsuit stated the federal agency in September gave see of a proposal to “debar” Figg and the affiliated businesses. If finally issued, debarment would “bar them from carrying out enterprise on any undertaking wholly or partly funded with federal funds for the similar time period” as FIGG Bridge Engineers.
“The history on which the detect of proposal to debar was based mostly contained no evidence that Linda Figg or any of the affiliated providers experienced any involvement in or information of the steps identified by the governing administration agencies to have been the possible causes of the bridge accident no proof of a heritage or tradition of carelessness or tolerance of negligent actions no record of failure to adhere to the optimum standards of basic safety and no other proof that would make them culpable in connection with the bridge incident,” the lawsuit mentioned.
The pedestrian bridge, which was below construction, collapsed on March 15, 2018, crushing autos and killing 5 motorists and just one construction employee. Federal investigators established that FIGG Bridge Engineers manufactured design and style faults and did not “recognize the importance” of structural cracking ahead of the collapse, explained a September memorandum from the Federal Highway Administration about the proposal to debar the affiliated corporations.
The memorandum, which was filed in court docket with the lawsuit, cited connections involving the affiliated firms and the “continued intent of Ms. Figg and the FIGG affiliated corporations to seek bridge contracts for layout, building, management and inspection.”
“That affiliation report proves that Ms. Figg and the FIGG affiliated companies have interlocking administration and possession identification of interests for Ms. Figg as operator shared services in the exact same principal put of small business and common use of management employees,” the memorandum claimed.
The lawsuit, submitted in federal court docket in Tallahassee, raises a collection of arguments, like the affiliation of firms is not adequate to legally justify debarment. It seeks an injunction and a ruling that the federal agency has violated owing course of action legal rights.
“Debarment primarily based entirely on affiliation when there is no evidence of wrongdoing or risk to community security or to the integrity of the federal contracting system is over and above the authority delegated to defendants by federal statutes and regulations,” the lawsuit, filed by Tallahassee lawyer Barry Richard, stated.
In addition to Figg, the plaintiffs are FIGG Group, Inc. FIGG Bridge Inspection, Inc. FIGG Bridge Builders, LLC FIGG Bridge Builders, Inc. FIGG Bridge Administrators, LLC FIGG Bridge Builders, Inc. F&M Engineers, Inc. FIGG Engineering Group, Inc. and Cline Precast, LLC.
