St. Pete-Clearwater airport contract draws scrutiny

A roughly $145 million overhaul of St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport moved forward Thursday on a 4-3 vote, even as questions surfaced over whether Pinellas County used an outdated scoring system to select one of the firms working on the project.

Commissioners approved a $1.74 million contract with American Infrastructure Development to represent the county during preconstruction of the airport’s passenger terminal improvements.

The concern centers on how companies were scored when Pinellas first sought the work in 2024.

For contracts like this, firms submit their qualifications and an evaluation committee scores them using criteria established in advance. Those scores help determine which companies rise to the top before the county begins negotiating a contract.

In this case, the county’s scoring sheet awarded points for experience, workload and other qualifications. It also offered 25 of 1,000 possible points for “Minority Business Status,” up to 100 points for Pinellas County Small Business Enterprise status and another 25 points based on location.

The minority-business provision drew new scrutiny after federal rules changed the following year.

In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation removed race- and sex-based presumptions from its disadvantaged-business program and required businesses to establish disadvantage individually. The department also said the rule barred race- and sex-based contracting requirements from federal grants.

Pinellas established its scoring criteria before that change. Commissioners were being asked to award the contract in September 2026, nearly a year after the new federal rule took effect.

Hours before Thursday’s vote, Commissioner Vince Nowicki received an anonymous email questioning whether the county should proceed under the older scoring system. He forwarded it to County Attorney Jewel White and purchasing officials.

The Catalyst later obtained that email and a follow-up notice sent to county officials after the vote.

The notice alleged that the county’s minority-business, Small Business Enterprise and geographic scoring preferences could conflict with federal requirements tied to funding for the airport project. It also asked officials to preserve evaluator score sheets, calculations, funding records and communications related to the procurement.

No federal agency has determined that Pinellas County violated procurement rules.

White said county attorneys had not yet had time to assess the issue.

“We have not had an opportunity to look into this,” she said. “It is a very recently raised issue to me, so I cannot answer the question right now.”

County and airport staff recommended moving forward. White later said Pinellas uses a Small Business Enterprise program rather than the type of disadvantaged-business program she initially understood the complaint to concern.

Nowicki said his concern was the separate “Minority Business Status” provision in the county’s scoring criteria.

In a statement provided to the Catalyst Friday, County Administrator Barry Burton said the county will review the issue.

“We believe all federal requirements were followed but based on the issues raised we will review this item with purchasing and legal to ensure it meets all current procurement standards,” Burton said.

In a subsequent interview, Nowicki criticized the decision to proceed before that review was completed, calling it “reckless”.

“It just seems very odd,” he said.

Commissioners also weighed what starting over could mean for the project. Staff said reviewing the concern would not necessarily require a new procurement, but restarting the process could add more than six months.

Peters pointed to the financial consequences of that possibility.

“I’m already concerned with the first delay that costs are going to be higher than what we already projected,” she said.

Commissioner Brian Scott moved to approve the contract, with Peters seconding it. The motion passed 4-3.

The $1.74 million agreement covers preconstruction. County officials said the owner’s representative work could eventually total about $6 million once construction services are added.

The larger terminal project has grown from about $110 million to roughly $145 million as its scope expanded. It is expected to rely on airport revenue, passenger facility charges and state and federal grants.

For Nowicki, the stakes were the federal dollars helping fund the airport.

“I don’t want to be sideways with the FAA when we’re getting tens of millions of dollars to the airport,” he said.