Company files commercial litigation against Michigan Works

When a government entity is required to hire a private company for work projects, the government agency is required to be unbiased when looking at bids for projects from private companies. However, when a government entity fails to follow these rules, it could be unfairly detrimental to certain companies. Luckily, for these companies, they have the option of filing a commercial litigation lawsuit in an attempt to recoup monetary losses. This seems to be what is happening with a recent lawsuit against Michigan Works.

Human Investment and Development Corporation filed the lawsuit in mid-September after Michigan Works chose a competing company for a $2.1 million contract for a workforce development project. The lawsuit alleges that Michigan Works rigged the way bids are scored in order to give advantages to the companies which agency officials wanted to win the bid. In this case the contract was granted to Action Management, a competing company.

The plaintiff company claims that it had a history of successful bidding for projects through Michigan Works for several decades. However, Human Investment ended up losing four contracts last year after Michigan Works changed its policy requiring companies to identify themselves during all phases of the bidding process. Before the policy change, Michigan Works evaluated companies through blind bidding.

In its commercial litigation lawsuit, Human Investment claims that Michigan Works has forced the company to lay off a large number of its workers. The plaintiff is also accusing Michigan Works of conspiring with Action Management to unfairly rig the bidding system. Although reports have not specified if the plaintiff is asking for monetary reimbursement, it is common for a company in similar situations to obtain such reimbursement after successfuly presenting its legal argument in court.

Source: M Live, Lawsuit: Vendor claims Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works rigged bids to favor certain businesses , Gary Ridley, Oct. 29, 2013