Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: STRL) ("Sterling" or "the Company") today announced that its subsidiary, Road and Highway Builders of California, Inc. ("RHBC"), which was the apparent low bidder on a $48.2 million project for the California Department of Transportation ("CalTrans"), has been notified that CalTrans intends to award the contract to the next lowest bidder because it deems RHBC's bid "non-responsive". RHBC is in the process of preparing an appeal of CalTrans' determination. The project entails the complete reconstruction, including concrete paving, of a 5.3 mile highway going west from the California/Nevada state line, and is scheduled to begin in early spring 2009.
Patrick Manning, Chairman and CEO of Sterling, commented, "We are disappointed with CalTrans' decision, but we believe we should prevail in the appeals process. While a loss of the project lowers our current backlog of awarded work for 2009, we still believe that the market will provide us with opportunities to maintain our backlog at record levels."
Sterling is a leading heavy civil construction company, headquartered in Houston, Texas, that specializes in the building, reconstruction and repair of transportation and water infrastructure in large and growing markets in Texas, Nevada and, with this project, California. Its transportation infrastructure projects include highways, roads, bridges and light rail, and its water infrastructure projects include water, wastewater and storm drainage systems.
This press release includes certain statements that fall within the definition of "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including overall economic and market conditions, competitors' and customers' actions, and weather conditions, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including those risks identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, such statements should be considered in light of these risks. Any prediction by the Company is only a statement of management's belief at the time the prediction is made. There can be no assurance that any prediction once made will continue thereafter to reflect management's belief, and the Company does not undertake to update publicly its predictions, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.