Sound Transit can sign contract, says judge

A judge yesterday refused to block Sound Transit from signing a contract with a construction company to build part of its Seattle light-rail line.

The Sound Transit board is expected to vote this afternoon to authorize approval of the $129 million contract with a joint venture called RCI/Herzog to build the Rainier Valley portion of the 14-mile line from downtown to Tukwila.

Rainier Valley Constructors, an unsuccessful bidder that recently filed a lawsuit challenging the contract's legality, yesterday asked King County Superior Court Judge James Doerty to block Sound Transit from acting until that lawsuit is decided.

Doerty declined, saying Rainier Valley, a partnership of Frank Coluccio Construction and Gary Merlino Construction, had little chance of winning at trial.

Rainier Valley's lawyer, Arnold Hedeen, said his client probably will ask the state Court of Appeals this morning to overrule Doerty. Once the contract is signed Rainier Valley loses its legal right to challenge it, he said.

Rainier Valley wants the contract rebid. Sound Transit says that could delay construction along Martin Luther King Jr. Way by six months, drive up costs by at least $7 million, and perhaps push back the line's scheduled 2009 opening.

Sound Transit's lawyer, Stan Beck, said Rainier Valley's administrative appeals already had pushed back the contract award by 1-1/2 months. He characterized Rainier Valley as "a disgruntled bidder attempting to get a second bite of the apple."

But Hedeen contended that Sound Transit had changed the rules in the middle of the game by first requiring that bidders comply with a "project labor agreement" Sound Transit has signed with construction unions, then dropping the requirement after the bids were opened.

"What Mr. (Frank) Coluccio and Rainer Valley Constructors want is fair play and a level playing field," Hedeen said.

Any delay because of rebidding would be insignificant, he said, and dropping the requirement for a project labor agreement could reduce bids by $5 million.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com