The Louisville Arena Authority plans to finalize a deal with its Cincinnati demolition contractor despite the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet’s request to suspend negotiations.

At issue is a protest filed last week with the state by CRS Demolition, a Louisville company that unsuccessfully bid on the job the authority awarded to O’Rourke Wrecking at its January meeting.

In a letter to Finance Secretary Jonathan Miller, CRS Demolition claims that the authority failed to meet state procurement law when it selected a demolition contractor through competitive bidding.

A Finance Cabinet attorney last week asked arena officials to indefinitely suspend the O’Rourke deal, according to a letter sent to the authority’s general counsel and obtained by The Courier-Journal under the state’s open records laws.

But arena authority won’t wait, chairman Jim Host said today.

“We don’t have time to wait for two or three months until somebody, somewhere makes a decision,” he said. “We’ve made it and we’re going ahead.”

There’s no time frame for Miller to take action, said Jill Midkiff, a Finance Cabinet spokeswoman.

CRS Demolition’s bid of $1.6 million was the lowest among five companies that pursued the contract, according to bid documents. On the recommendation of the arena construction committee, the authority unanimously approved O’Rourke’s $2.8 million in January.

Price accounted for half of the selection criteria, and experience made up about one-third of the 100-point evaluation. Other factors included a proposed schedule and minority business participation.

“We picked the right firm,” Host said. “The biggest issue we had with the demolition firms was the experience having to do with implosion and demolition. And this firm is the only one that does their own implosion.”

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