The City Commission of Deerfield Beach voted 3-2 on Nov. 4 to deny an appeal by Calvin Giordano Associates (CGA) challenging a commission re-ranking that resulted in awarding the city's building services contract to CAP Government.

Background and procedure

The dispute follows a multi-step procurement process. CGA and CAP both submitted proposals to provide building department services. An evaluation committee reviewed both proposals, conducted an initial scoring and later — at the commission's request — permitted oral presentations and a second evaluation. After that second evaluation the commission re-ranked the firms and voted on Sept. 15 to award the contract to CAP Government. CGA filed a timely protest under the city's protest procedures, which calls for a protest committee meeting; that committee met on Oct. 16 and unanimously denied the protest (3-0). CGA then filed a timely appeal to the full commission under the city code; the appeal hearing and presentations took place at the Nov. 4 meeting.

What the parties argued

CGA's counsel said the commission's decision was arbitrary and based on factors outside the RFP criteria, arguing the evaluation committee had twice scored CGA higher on experience, approach and capacity. CGA representatives also highlighted familiarity of staff and software platform, and said CAP's demonstrated pool of certified staff was smaller. CGA said the re-ranking represented a change in criteria that improperly advantaged CAP.

CAP's counsel said the commission followed procurement rules and had broad discretion under Florida law to evaluate proposals and re-rank proposers after presentations. CAP noted that the RFP permitted commissioners to reconsider and score proposals and that the commission had spent hours interviewing proposers and filling out score sheets. CAP also highlighted a price difference in the fee proposals that could yield additional annual revenue for the city under CAP's approach; counsel said the protest and appeal lacked legal merit.

Commission decision and vote

After hearing presentations from both firms and legal counsel the commission asked questions and deliberated. Commissioner Plaut moved to deny CGA's appeal; Commissioner Shanetzky seconded. The roll call vote was: Commissioner Hudak — No; Commissioner Plaut — Yes; Commissioner Shanetzky — Yes; Vice Mayor Preston — No; Mayor Drozky — Yes. The motion to deny the appeal passed 3-2.

Why it matters

The decision keeps in place the commission's prior re-ranking and preserves the planned award to CAP Government. The dispute centered on how to weigh local performance experience and change-management arguments versus a desire among some commissioners for a different vendor approach; the majority concluded the commission had acted within its discretion and that the protest and appeal did not meet the legal standard for reversal.

Next steps

The protest committee's prior denial and the commission's denial of the appeal close the administrative protest avenues under the city's procurement code. Any further remedies (for example, litigation) would be a separate process; the city staff and counsel did not announce additional administrative steps at the meeting.