Across the street from the ever-growing skeleton of the Matthew Knight basketball arena, drivers and students may have noticed a billboard thumbing its nose at the $200 million
construction project.
“Respect Public Records Laws / UO Arena Project,” the billboard reads. The billboard directs viewers to a Web site, nobidcontracts.org, which heavily criticizes the arena project, specifically the bidding process or, as the site argues, the lack thereof.
The billboard and Web site are associated with the Oregon and Southwest Washington Fair Contracting Foundation, part of the National Alliance for Fair Contracting, a group that monitors public construction projects to ensure that proper bidding processes are followed and prevailing wages are paid.
FCF Executive Director Daniel Bonham said his group did not pay for the billboard, but rather a “coalition” of concerned parties. However, he said the FCF is fielding all calls on
the issue.
The FCF has filed numerous public records requests for documents on the arena project, such as payroll information and bid documents, but many were denied because the information was held by National Championship Properties, the for-profit corporation that was awarded the no-bid contract by the University to build the stadium.
National Championship Properties is a subsidiary of the University of Oregon Foundation — the non-profit corporation that handles the University’s private donations.
“We believe that National Championship Properties, acting as an agent of the University, qualifies as a public agency, but they won’t give us any documents,” Bonham said.
In addition to records being unavailable, Bonham said the University had dragged its feet on processing record requests.
“The amount of time that it’s taken to get a public records request processed is far longer than we are used to dealing with,” Bonham said. “For this institution to be not completely transparent and forthcoming is a concern for the public.”
The University general counsel’s office, which handles public records requests for the University, did not return calls seeking comment.
The FCF also takes issue with how the University procured a no-bid contract. In 2007, former University President Dave Frohnmayer made a “declaration of emergency,” one of the three ways a public project can bypass the competitive bid process.
Frohnmayer petitioned the Oregon University System, declaring the “UO has had, and continues to have, special needs relative to this project in order to ensure that construction could begin in summer 2008 and be completed in time for the 2010-11 basketball season.”
Bonham said the University abused that exception.
“In my view, under the statute, declaration of emergency should only be made when health and safety is an issue,” Bonham said. “That’s clearly not an issue here.”
However, University spokesperson Julie Brown defended the project, saying all of the sub-contracts awarded in the arena project were selected through a competitive
bidding process.
“As of the end of December 2009, the arena project has awarded $115,121,969 in total contracts of which 84 percent, or $96,701,610 in total contract value, has gone to Oregon
companies,” Brown said.
Brown also touted the number of jobs the arena has created, saying the project brings in 200 trade-workers daily. At peak construction, Brown said there “will be approximately 450 workers on-site daily.”
“The arena really is benefitting Lane (County) and Oregon with infusion of jobs and funds,” Brown said. “For the companies outside the state, the majority of the labor force has come from the Oregon market.”
Brown said the University was also committed to paying prevailing wages.
“Paying prevailing wages for the project is a requirement for all contracts and is fully supported by UO administration,” she said.
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