The state Department of Transportation’s board had seemed poised to renew a $16 million contract without open bidding, but on Wednesday a committee indicated it would go out to bid after all. The final decision will be made by the full board, which meets Thursday.
The contract is for the right to erect and sell advertising on the signs at the highway’s edge that direct drivers to gas stations, restaurants and other services. It’s held by Georgia Logos LLC, a subsidiary of Interstate Logos LLC, which is owned by Lamar Advertising Co. And it’s tangled the state in controversy before.
In 2005, a competitor of Georgia Logos asked the state not to simply renew Georgia Logos’ contract, which was to expire that year, but to put it out to bid. DOT did that, but Georgia Logos complained that it already had an agreement to renew the contract, and sued. The company won a settlement from DOT of $650,000 a year for five years.
Georgia Logos also won the bidding and a new five-year contract. The new contract paid DOT $3.2 million a year, in contrast to DOT’s previous take of $50,000 a year.
Now that contract has run its course, and DOT has the right either to extend it year-by-year for up to five years, or put it out to bid again. Earlier this year, DOT board members told staff to negotiate with Georgia Logos about a possible extension.
David Doss, the DOT board member who made the motion Wednesday to go out to bid, said he had favored exclusive negotiations with Georgia Logos to renew its contract, but those hadn’t worked out.
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