Countywide : Airport Contractor Fights Bond Request
The president of a minority-owned firm threatened with losing a contract for work in the John Wayne Airport expansion project said Friday that his firm is not having financial difficulties as stated recently by an airport official.
Manuel Luera said his firm, Avance Engineering of Covina, was wrongly asked by the county for a performance bond even though his contract allows him to substitute a personal guarantee.
The bond dispute could affect federal funding of an airport roadway project that Avance is scheduled to work on, officials said, because Luera has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration’s civil rights office.
Airport officials said they have asked the general contractor, McCarthy Construction Co. of Irvine, to document what McCarthy has done to help Luera.
Luera said Friday that he is in a “Catch-22” situation. He said that he cannot obtain a performance bond without a contract from McCarthy Construction and that McCarthy will not give him a contract without the bond.
McCarthy officials were unavailable for comment Friday.
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