SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — In August 2022, Keith Adamek’s Silverstrand Construction Company was awarded a $30 million contract to do site preparation work for the new Otay Mesa II port of entry.
It involved bringing in tons of soil to create a layer on which the new border crossing would be built.
The work also called for a drainage system and underground storm water structures.
But Adamek says they hit a snag almost from the beginning when Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation, one of the agencies involved in the project, demanded all the dirt brought in should be totally clear of hazardous materials.
“That is almost impossible to find, to have zero, zero, zero percent in the dirt,” said Adamek. “It created a six-month delay.”
Adamek tol Border Report that an agreement was finally reached, and they began importing fill to the 90-acre site, but soon things got worse.
“We got a portion of the project done, but our contract was unilaterally canceled by Caltrans.”
Adamek blames Caltrans for altering the design and changing the work stated in their contract.
Alex Lopez (left) is the CFO for Silverstrand Construction in San Diego while Keith Adamek is its president. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)
He says the agency and others involved have been redrafting the scope of the work and have yet to finalize what the crossing will look like and its exact location.
“It’s a huge detriment to not be able to finish this $30 million contract.”
Adamek worries that the work stoppage and Caltrans’ threat to find someone else to finish the work will hurt his company and others.
“There are other small businesses, there’s a big financial hardship for them to not be able to finish their portion of the work.”
Adamek and Alex Lopez, Silverstrand’s chief financial officer, say Caltrans isn’t willing to pay for the additional work and materials it has requested.
“All those cost extra money because it wasn’t in the contract,” Lopez said.
Both Lopez and Adamek insist they have tried to come up with a compromise, but Caltrans won’t budge and is adamant about terminating their contract.
“We did five proposals to try and finish the project including all of those changes and including us absorbing liquidated damages, but they won’t do it,” Lopez said.
He said if Caltrans chooses another contractor, it will cost taxpayers a lot more money.
“Between now and then you’re going to have labor rates that go up, material prices that can go up, the change of scope, our rough estimates just to have the work done is about $15 million, that’s $6 million more than letting us finish the work.”
Lopez and Adamek also say their conflict with Caltrans is one of the reasons the port of entry is not getting built on time.
“This project is further behind schedule due to the mismanagement of our contract and taxpayer dollars by Caltrans,” Adamek said.
While the Mexican side is expected to be done by September, when the port of entry was due to begin operations, the U.S. side probably won’t be done until 2026.
Border Report reached out to Caltrans to inquire about the allegations made by Adamek and Lopez.
The agency issued the following statement:
“Caltrans cannot comment on pending contract disputes. However, the site preparation contract has no bearing on the status of the Otay Mesa East/Mesa De Otay II Port of Entry Project. When the Federal Government is ready to proceed to construction, a separate contract will be administered for construction of the federal facility.”
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