BAL HARBO UR - VILLAGE -
OFFICE OF THE VILLAGE MANAGER LETTER TO COUNCIL
NO. 025-2020
TO: Mayor Gabriel Groisman and Members of the Village Council
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, Village Manager )o.ry DATE: February 14, 2020 V
SUBJECT: Letter dated February 3, 2020 from Mr. Albert J. Slap, President, Coastal Risk Assessment
The purpose of this Letter to Council (LTC) is to provide you with further information concerning the letter the Village and each of you received. The letter is attached for your reference, alleges a breach of contract by Coastal Systems, Inc. in their sub-contract with Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, of Boca Raton, FL. Coastal Systems (CSI) was recently retained to conduct the ongoing Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant funded Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability Study. It should be noted that the Village has not entered into any agreement with Coastal Risk Assessment.
On February 11, 2020, I received the attached e mail message from Mr. R. Harvey Sasso, P.E. President of Coastal Systems International, Inc. in reference to the letter received from Mr. Slap. In his message, Mr. Sasso states that he is attempting to resolve this issue internally and it will not negatively impact the submittal of the report related to our agreement.
If further communications are received for either party in the matter, I will advise.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact John Oldenburg directly.
JMG/JAO John Oldenburg
From: R H. Sasso < rhsa sso @coastalsystemsint.com > Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3:17 PM To: Jorge Gonzalez Cc: John Oldenburg Subject: FW: Coastal Risk Claim Against CSI and Harvey Sasso
fNOTiCE: This message originated outside· of the \tillage of Bal Ha blow -- D~ f>.Uii>T t':L ·@Kon lrinlt or ogen att.a9Mn:ients unless ou are sure the content is safe.
Dear Jorge,
I apologize that the Village has been introduced into these communications with our proposed sub-consultant, Albert Slap - President of Coastal Risk Consulting (CRC). Mr. Slap is attempting to involve the Village in what should be an 'in-house' negotiation between Coastal Systems International, Inc. (as the Village's Prime Consultant) and their sub-consultant.
In our original August 2019 Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability Study RFQ submittal to the Village, we represented that Mr. Slap's company was expected to provide a database ofproperty information for each individual property within the Village, including property size, use, building area, valuation, as well as surrounding LiDAR ground elevations. CRC was also expected to provide flood risk data for each parcel. Subsequently, we came to learn that their software configuration was not able to provide this information in a timely manner, and given the schedule of the Project, we have had to compile this information at our cost.
We have not yet executed any agreement with CRC. We are currently exploring opportunities for an alternative scope of work towards resolving this issue with Mr. Slap, but in no way will our negotiations with this sub consultant affect our commitment for the timely submittal ofour final report to the Village.
We are making substantial progress on the Project and look forward to meeting with you at the next Workshop. Should you have any questions or require any further clarification on the above, I am available to discuss.
Best Regards,
Harvey
R. Harvey Sasso, P.E. President [email protected] ff+. SYS T F. ~f S f !li t~•'l'A.t-l O S _-._L Coastal Systems International, Inc. 464 South Dixie Highway Co ral Gab les, Florida 33146, USA
1 t 305-669-6236 f 305-661-1914 www.Coasta ISystemsl nt.com
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, February 03, 2020 5:57 PM To: RH. Sasso; [email protected] Subject: FW: Coastal Risk Claim Against CSI and Harvey Sasso
From: [email protected]
Dear Mayor Groisman and Village Manager Gonzalez:
Attached please find a claim letter by my Company, Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, against Harvey Sasso and Coastal Systems International. This regards a contractual dispute that regrettably involves the Village. Please refer to the attached letter of today's date and three exhibits. Those exhibits are: {1) the Bal Harbour Village Coastal Engineering and Professional Consulting Services to Conduct a Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability Study RFQ No . 2019-02: {2) a proposed contract addendum from Coastal Risk requested by Harvey Sasso; and, (3) the demand letter to Sasso and Coastal Systems from our lawyer, Mitchell Chester, Esq.
We request an opportunity to speak with you on the phone regarding this matter to determine if the breach of contract by Sasso and Coastal Systems can be cured and the project completed as was contemplated in the Florida DEP-funded, Vulnerability Assessment proposal.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. My personal cell phone number is 970-710-9553.
Kind regards,
Albert J. Slap, President Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC Office: 844-Sea-Rise (732-7473) www.floodscores.com
Coastal Risk is a geospatial modeling and data analytics technology company. Coastal Risk's technology empowers individuals, businesses and governments in the US and globally to accelerate resilience.
2 ~ AL RISK CONSULTING
www.coastalriskconsulting.com 844-SEA-RISE (732-7473)
February 3, 2020
Cc: Gabriel Groisman, Seth Salver, Jeffrey Freimark, Buzzy Sklar, David Albaum
Jorge Gonzalez, Village Manager Village ofBal Harbour 655-96TH STREET BAL HARBOUR, FLORIDA 33154
Dear Village Manager Gonzalez:
The purpose of this letter is to bring to your prompt attention a breach of contract by Coastal Systems, Inc. in their sub-contract with my Company, Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, of Boca Raton, FL. As you are aware, Coastal Systems (CSI) competed to perform a Vulnerability Assessment for the Village of Bal Harbour under a Florida DEP grant by including in the proposed Scope of Work obligations of Coastal Risk Consulting (CRC). A copy of that Proposal is attached as Exhibit 1.
CSI was selected as the prime contractor by the Village based on its proposal, which included CRC, and work on the project has begun. The president of CSI, Harvey Sasso, requested that CRC attend the first Village public workshop under the contract, which has held on January 7, 2020. The undersigned and another CRC employee attended and participated in the workshop.
Mr. Sasso has communicated verbally to the undersigned that, because CSI would "lose money on the job with the Village" under this contract, that it was removing CRC from its position as a sub contractor and would not assign to us the tasks that were specified to us in the Scope of Work. In fact, CSI has prevented CRC from doing any work on the contract. Mr. Sasso's perception that CSI would "lose money" on this contract, whether true or not, is not a legal justification for breaching its contract with CRC.
When Coastal Risk objected to this unlawful treatment by CSI, Mr. Sasso requested that CRC prepare and provide to him an additional Scope of Work ofwhat it would do for CSI under its agreement with the Village for $15,000 or 20% of the contract price. Twenty percent was the percentage of the total work assigned to CRC in the proposal to the Village (Ex. 1). CRC did
2385 Executive Center Drive, Suite 100, Boca Raton, FL 33421 844-SEA-RISE (732-7473) provide to Mr. Sasso such a proposal on January 16, 2020. A copy of that letter proposal is attached as Exhibit 2. Since that time, CRC has had no response to its proposal from CSL
As you may also know, Coastal Risk is the prime contractor for the same sort of Vulnerability Assessment for your neighboring munidpality, Bay Harbor Islands. Perfo1ming vulnerability assessments for local governments in Florida is a significant part of our business. We have done them for the Village of Key Biscayne and the Village of Miami Shores. So, in addition to. harming our contractual and financial interests in the sub-contract with the Village of Bal Harbour, CSI is harming our reputational interests by preventing us from performing our sub-contract and providing the Village with our high-quality analyses. Ifwe did not perfonn assigned work for a client, this would harm our reputation, unless we were being prevented from doing so by a prime contractor, which is the case, here.
Additionally, because of CSI's active breach of contract and injury to CRC's reputational interests, CRC sent to CSI a letter from its legal counsel, Mitchell Chester, Esq., dated January 29, 2020. A copy of that letter is attached as Exhibit 3. We have not had any response from CSI and, so, we are writing to the Village to put it on notice ofthe breach of contract by its contractor CSI and to seek intervention by the Village in order that Coastal Risk can perform under its sub-contract. CRC stands ready and able to perfmm the work under the sub-contract and, the only reason that we are not is that CSI and Mr. Sasso are actively preventing us from doing so.
We would be glad to meet with you and your staff to discuss this matter, either with or without Mr. Sasso's pmticipation. As you can see from the attached proposal to Mr. Sasso (Exhibit 2), the materials that CRC would produce for the Village under the sub-contract are exactly what is needed for this Vulnerability Assessment and to provide important information and analyses to the residents and businesses in Bal Harbour, so that they can better understand the sea level rise and climate change risks and challenges that are facing them.
Please let us know how you would like to proceed. It is our intention to file a breach of contract claim in comt against CSI, if this matter cannot be amicably resolved promptly. As to whether the Village must be added as a third-party, we will consult with our attorney, and advise you in advance. We are regretful that this has occun-ed. In our rather brieflife as a startup in South Florida (est. 2014), until now, we have made no claims against any of our contractors, sub-contractors or clients and, no claims have been filed against us. We look forward to hearing back from you. My personal cell number is 970-710-9553. I am visiting my elderly mother in Philadelphia this week, but, am available by phone to discuss next steps.
Kind regards,
A,%~~ So/ Albert J. Slp,President
2385 Executive Center Drive, Suite 100, Boca Raton, FL 33421 844-SEA-RISE (732-7473)