Protest Stops Work on Mississippi Levee

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CN) - A contract dispute will temporarily stop work to restore the Birds Point levee in Southeastern Missouri.

The Army Corps of Engineers blew up part of the levee in spring 2011 to ease flooding concerns along the Mississippi River.

The Corps on Engineers announced in May that it awarded a total of $20 million to three firms to rebuild the levee to its previous level.

A&M Engineering & Environmental Services, of Tulsa, is protesting that award, according to the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

A&M objects to the type of contract - a Multiple Award Task Order Contract - and the government's evaluation of the proposal.

Now that a protest has been filed, contracting staff in Memphis will review A&M's bid package and then make a recommendation to the Corps of Engineers' legal counsel in Vicksburg, Miss. The legal counsel will then make a determination on the merits of the protest, Corps of Engineers spokesman Jim Pogue told The Missourian.

The 2-mile breach did lower river levels, but flooded 130,000 acres of farmland and several dozen homes.

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