TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The federal government has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Tallahassee-based company that could be blocked from participating in federally funded projects because it partnered with the engineering firm that designed the collapsed Florida International University pedestrian bridge.
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Nine businesses and their owner, Linda Figg, filed suit in U.S. District Court in March seeking to block a Federal Highway Administration proposal that could shut the companies out of federally funded projects.
The companies are part of FIGG Bridge Engineers, which designed a pedestrian bridge in Miami-Dade County that collapsed in 2018, crushing a car and killing five drivers and a construction worker.
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FIGG Bridge Engineers was banned in 2021 from working on any federally funded projects until 2029.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Grogan wrote in a 23-page motion this week that the case should be dismissed because the federal government has not made a final decision on the so-called “debarment” of the companies involved. “A federal safety investigation determined that the cause of the accident was errors made by a bridge engineering company and one of its engineers,” the motion states.
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“The federal agency excluded these entities from federal contracting for nine years. The federal agency now has information indicating that the excluded entities have attempted to circumvent that outcome by attempting to obtain the same types of federal contracts using different corporate names. The federal agency is considering whether to exclude these entities under regulations enacted to prevent circumvention of exclusion. However, no final agency action has been taken on the other proposed exclusions (not suspensions). Those proposals are proceeding appropriately under applicable regulations. Thus, this action by the owners of the excluded entities and their 'affiliates' is premature, i.e., unripe, and not unreasonably delayed.”
The motion also argues that “federal agencies have the authority under federal law to do things they are considering but have not yet done. The federal government can make these types of operational decisions to protect the public interest.”
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