Construction firm to appeal Charleston airport contract decision

The runner-up bidder for the $150 million Charleston International Airport terminal redevelopment contract will appeal to circuit court Friday’s ruling that denied its protest to the Aviation Authority.

“They want an independent body to look at the protest,” said attorney Nick Nicholson, who represents Holder Construction Co. of Atlanta and its local partners. “The only people who have looked at it or ruled on it were an employee of the Aviation Authority or members of the authority.”

The group of companies led by Holder filed a protest in the spring after the contract was awarded to Austin Commercial LP of Dallas and local firm Hitt Contracting Inc.

The Holder team said a former airport board member’s ties to the Austin-Hitt team tainted the contract award process, the airport did not follow proper procedures, and a score sheet gave the Holder group a higher ranking that the contract winner.

A three-member panel of airport board members led by former judge Larry Richter ruled Friday that the protest filed by Holder and its partners was “unsupported by facts or law.” Airport board members Spencer Pryor and Pat Waters also sat on the airport appeals panel.

Aviation Authority attorney Arnold Goodstein said Monday he is “amazed” that the Holder group intends to appeal the decision.

“There is nothing there,” he said. “I can’t imagine why they think there is. They have neither the law nor the facts.”

Read more in Tuesday’s editions of The Post and Courier.