Lexington Park, MD — Almost a year ago a large crowd was all smiles as ground was broken for the new Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. Many dignitaries were on hand as Casey Stinger, president of the company building the museum, Broughton Construction, promised to bring it in “on time and on budget.” Well it didn’t work out that way. The county pulled the plug on Broughton, a minority-owned business, when it was learned that the company had supplied “fraudulent performance bonds” according to the county Director of Finance Elaine Kramer. The project came to a standstill after years of hard work by many dedicated people.
Fast forward to Tuesday. Everyone was all smiles again as another contract was awarded for the project at a slightly higher price than the original one: $4.8 million (instead of $4.6 million) to one of the other original bidders, Biscayne Contractors, Inc. Kramer assured the commissioners that additional checks and balances were put in place to make sure what happened before won’t happen again.
“I think it is a really good day,” Kramer said of finally awarding the new bid.
New contract awarded for Naval Air Museum