Court puts Northborough Library project on hold
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - Preparations for the renovation and expansion of the Northborough Free Library have been suspended after the lowest bidder for the project - who was not selected by town officials - filed a motion saying it was unfairly bypassed during the selection process.

The company, Barr Inc. of Putnam, Conn., stated in the suit filed June 27 that it had been harmed by the town's decision to select Souliere and Zepka Construction Inc. of Adams, the second-lowest bidder. Barr's bid was about $5.566 million - $213,000 lower than Souliere and Zepka's bid of $5.778 million.

Barr's lawsuit requested that work regarding the project be stopped until a hearing on the matter could be held. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton granted the temporary restraining order.

"The court finds that the plaintiff, Barr Incorporated, has established that it will suffer immediate and irreparable harm if the contract relating to the Northborough Free Library construction project goes forward at this time," Gorton wrote in his decision on the matter.

The hearing to determine whether Barr should have been granted the contract was scheduled to be held Wednesday July 11 in Worcester.

At the core of the disagreement between Barr and Northborough town officials and the Library Building Committee is the fact that, in Massachusetts in a public bidding process, a town must pick the lowest responsible bidder.

Barr maintains it qualifies as such, although the town decided otherwise before awarding the contract to Souliere and Zepka.

When Barr was notified, in writing in a letter dated May 14 by Northborough Town Administrator Barry Brenner, it requested a second review.

The town complied, turning the matter over to the project manager, Construction Monitoring Services Inc., which investigated Barr's qualifications by reviewing the eight projects in the company's certification file.

According to documents filed by Northborough town counsel, attorneys David Doneski and Richard Holland of the Boston law firm of Kopelman and Paige, the investigation by Construction Monitoring Services revealed that Barr could be eliminated from consideration.

Because of what the review by Construction Monitoring Services allegedly uncovered, the town of Northborough, through Doneski and Holland, filed an opposition to Barr's motion for a preliminary injunction.

The opposition filed by Doneski and Holland on behalf of Northborough alleges that "the town performed a thorough investigation, and that investigation revealed that Barr is not a responsible contractor. Thus, Barr will not succeed on the merits of this litigation."

Barr's attorney, Michael P. Sams, claimed in his complaint that Northborough officials "acted arbitrarily" in determining that Barr was not responsible and that the actions were based on "false and incorrect information."