PORT ANGELES — Representatives from the Port of Port Angeles, city of Port Angeles and Clallam County will meet by Wednesday to discuss how they will respond to rejection.
Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spurned the groups’ joint proposal to base NOAA’s four-vessel research fleet in Port Angeles.
Also spurned was a proposal from Seattle to keep the fleet there as well as an offer from Bellingham.
NOAA instead signed a 20-year-lease on Aug. 8 with the Port of Newport, Ore., whose proposal was boosted by that state’s Legislature granting the port $19.5 million in bonding capacity.
The deadline is Friday to file a protest with the U.S. Government Accounting Office, Port of Port Angeles lawyer Dave Neupert told port commissioners at their regular meeting Monday.
Neupert estimated that about 20 percent of such protests are successful.
Port commissioners also may send the Government Accounting Office a letter asking to reserve the right to appeal until the port receives more information on Newport’s proposal.
PA strategy session
At the strategy meeting this week will be new port Executive Director Jeff Robb, port Commissioner Jim McIntire, Finance and Administration Director Bill James, Trade and Economic Development Director David Hagiwara, Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty, County Administrator Jim Jones, Port Angeles City Council member Karen Rogers, City Manager Kent Myers and city Community and Economic Development Director Nathan West.
The meeting will involve potential litigation, so it will be closed to the public, Robb said.
According to Port Angeles’ joint proposal, the port would have lengthened its Terminal 3 pier to accommodate 1,560 feet of moorage, provided a small-boat float and leased the site to NOAA for $2.57 million annually for 20 years.
The deadline clock on filing a protest began Aug. 18, the day NOAA officials gave Robb, Hagiwara and James a rundown at their Seattle headquarters on why NOAA rejected the joint proposal, which cost $129,00 to put together and which NOAA scored in making its decision.
New review
A successful protest would result in NOAA reviewing anew the four bids to station the four-vessel fleet, including the proposal from Port Angeles, and those from the Ports of Bellingham and Seattle, where the four-vessel fleet is stationed at Lake Union.
Newport scored high for pier accommodations, buildings and infrastructure, improvements likely funded with Newport’s new bond capacity, James said Monday in an interview.
“If Bellingham or Lake Union or Port Angeles had known we would receive $20 million from the state, it would have made a difference.”
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
