By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, has overturned a 2022 decision rejecting NY Waterway’s claim it should have won the contract to run commuter ferry service from the Belford terminal to Manhattan.
On April 2 the court voided the superior court decision and ordered Monmouth County to reopen the bidding process for the contract, scoring a win for NY Waterway. The ferry service lost its bid to continue its 20-year run from the county-owned terminal to Seastreak in 2022.
“In December 2021, in response to a Request for Proposals, NY Waterway submitted a proposal which, while offering better service at lower fares than any other bidder, was rejected by the County on a technicality,” said Adam Pockriss, senior vice president of Rubenstein, a strategic communications and reputation management firm that represents NY Waterway, in an emailed statement.
The Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners awarded the $2 million, two-year contract to Seastreak in a controversial decision during its June 21, 2022, meeting, disqualifying NY Waterway’s bid, even though it offered lower fares and more destinations than Seastreak.
During the meeting, commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone said the county had found that NY Waterway’s bid was “noncompliant because it failed to submit a consent of surety, a mandatory bid item, with its bid proposal.” Consent of surety is a bond that demonstrates the company can financially provide service, maintain boats for its operation, has liquidity to hire staff and more.
In defense of NY Waterway in July 2022, Wiley Norvell, then a vice president with Rubenstein, told The Two River Times that “Waterway asked the county if it could instead give a letter of credit from a bank, essentially saying that it had sufficient funds and sufficient credit, rather than issuing the bond. The county said that was OK.” Norvell said they were “very surprised” when the company received a letter from the county March 26, 2022, saying NY Waterway’s proposal had been disqualified.
Following their rejection, NY Waterway filed a lawsuit to challenge the bidding process in the Monmouth County Superior Court.
In November 2022, a judge ruled the county was in compliance with the bidding process regulated by the state’s Local Public Contracts Law (LPCL) and dismissed NY Waterway’s complaint.
NY Waterway then appealed the ruling. Fundamental to this appeal was whether the county may utilize a hybrid bidding process in procuring a bid proposal.
On Tuesday, Appellate Division judges Maritza Berdote Byrne and Avis Bishop-Thompson determined that the trial court’s decision was “not based on substantial credible evidence in the record and supported by case law” and that the hybrid bidding procedure requested by the county to procure competitive bids did not fully comply with the state law. Therefore, the judges issued an order and opinion reversing the dismissal of NY Waterway and requiring the county to rebid this contract.
“We are grateful that the New Jersey Appellate Court has now voided that rejection and ordered a rebid of the contract. We look forward to resubmitting our proposal for consideration, based on its merits,” Pockriss said in the statement on behalf of NY Waterway.
“The matter has been remanded to the Law Division (Monmouth County) for further proceedings consistent with its opinion,” said Monmouth County Special Counsel John M. Glynn in an email. The county will “further review the Appellate Division’s determination and evaluate its potential next steps,” Glynn said.
In the meantime, he noted, “there will be no interruption in service during this interim period and SeaStreak will continue to provide ferry service under its contract with the County until this litigation is finally concluded or until a new contract for these services is awarded.”
In addition to Belford, Seastreak has been operating ferry services from Highlands and Atlantic Highlands since the early 2000s. In October 2023 NY Waterway launched its Raritan Bay ferry terminal from South Amboy to New York City and continues other in-state routes.
Seastreak prices its oneway ticket at $28; NY Waterway previously charged $21.50.
“We remain confident that we can provide superior service at reasonable fares, and hope to have the opportunity to once again serve Monmouth County residents,” said Pockriss.
The article originally appeared in the April 4 – April 10, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
