Firm sues to revoke rival’s state contract

Filing claims agency didn’t investigate bid

A North Little Rock janitorial company has asked a judge to revoke a competitor’s contract with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, a month after that competitor accused the company of conducting a harassment campaign intended to derail the $380,000 pact.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray is presiding over the dueling lawsuits regarding the contract involving Razorclean Maids Inc., the company that won it last month, and O.J.’s Service Two Inc., the company that used to have the contract and is now suing to get it back after an administrative protest was rejected by the department.

Razorclean was the first to sue, petitioning the judge Feb. 28, about 10 days after being awarded the contract, for an injunction against O.J.’s and its owner, Charles Hinson, complaining about a “campaign of threats and intimidation” directed at Razorclean’s customers and contract references. O.J.’s also hired a private detective to investigate the company.

The five-page lawsuit by attorney Tre Kitchens states Razorclean customers were “bullied” and threatened into signing affidavits to support O.J.’s efforts to get the contract back, with some being subjected to interrogation.

“The defendants are misrepresenting who they are, and why they are harassing the customers of the plaintiff in a systematic attempt to hurt the plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “The defendants’ actions are harming the good will and reputation of the plaintiff … as well as the plaintiff’s relationships with existing and potential customers.”

Razorclean has asked the judge to bar Hinson and O.J.’s from harassing its customers and asking them to sign “inaccurate affidavits” about Razorclean. The company is also seeking damages and its legal costs to be awarded at trial.

No hearing has been set, and Hinson and O.J.’s havenot responded directly to the suit.

But on Tuesday, O.J.’s sued the Highway Department, its director and five commissioners to nullify Razorclean’s contract and give it back to O.J.’s.

Razorclean, owned by Madre Hill, the renowned former Razorback running back and former Oakland Raider, is not a defendant.

The 30-page lawsuit by attorneys Tiffany Flock of Texas, who is Hinson’s daughter, and Ronald Hope and Ralph “Win” Wilson of Little Rock contends that while Razorclean was the lowest bidder, only O.J.’s met the bid specifications.

According to the lawsuit, Razorclean’s bid application was deficient in a number of areas, which the highway department should have known, but the agency either didn’t follow its own policies to investigate the bid or doesn’t have the required procedures in place to evaluate bids.

Razorclean exaggerated services it had supplied to some customers and misrepresented its business relationship with at least three of its references, according to the lawsuit.

It doesn’t meet the staffing requirements set by the agency, and the North Little Rock office address it reported is for a shipping service, while a Sherwood office is actually Hill’s home, the lawsuit states.

Razorclean also can’t supply the 43 workers it’s contractually obligated to employ on the project, and the company is not meeting the minimum-hour requirements of 172 hours per night, according to the lawsuit.

The contract is to clean the Highway Department’s buildings daily for a year, ending Feb. 18, 2015: the sign shop, equipment and procurement, and materials buildings at Baseline and Sibley Hole roads; the central office and its annex, which houses transportation planning and policy, at 10324 Interstate 30; District Six headquarters at 8900 Mabelvale Pike; and facilities management at 8725 Mabelvale Pike.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 23 on 03/30/2014

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