Jersey City Redevelopment Agency set to give EPS $235,094 in no-bid work, on the same agenda where it bid out construction-advisor contracts

Hudson TV Exclusive

JERSEY CITY — The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency’s board is scheduled tonight to award four construction-advisor contracts it put out for proposals, each capped at $50,000. On the same agenda, it is set to give one of those four firms, Economic Project Solutions, Inc. (EPS), two no-bid contracts worth a combined $235,094, for work the Agency’s acting executive director certifies “cannot reasonably be described by written specifications.”

Hudson TV reviewed the Agency’s October 2026 agenda and its 90-page resolution packet ahead of the Board of Commissioners meeting, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Explore Middle School, 180 Ninth St., according to the Agency’s calendar. The packet also shows a special-counsel budget in the Agency’s Grand Jersey lawsuit rising from $100,000 to $450,000.

Hudson TV emailed written questions on Monday afternoon to Acting Executive Director Christopher Fiore, JCRA Chairwoman Denise Ridley, EPS, M&M Construction Company and the law firm Mandelbaum Barrett PC, asking for answers by noon Tuesday. None of them had responded by that deadline. This story will be updated with any responses.

Item 7: nine proposals, four advisors, $50,000 caps

Item 7 would award Contract 26-10-RN18 to Economic Project Solutions, Inc.; 26-10-RN19 to Epic Management, Inc.; 26-10-RN20 to M&M Construction Company, Inc.; and 26-10-RN21 to Watermen, LLC, for construction-advisor services in all of the Agency’s redevelopment areas.

According to the draft resolution, the board approved competitive contracting on Aug. 18, 2026 (Resolution 26-08-9), the Agency issued a request for proposals on Aug. 24, received nine proposals, and an evaluation committee and Agency counsel prepared an evaluation report under N.J.S.A. 40A:11-4.5(d). Each contract would run one year, with up to four one-year extensions, and would not exceed $50,000. The resolution says the awards were made through a fair-and-open process under the state’s pay-to-play law.

Items 16 and 18: $235,094 in no-bid work for EPS

Two other resolutions on the same agenda would award EPS contracts as “extraordinary unspecifiable services,” a category state law lets public bodies award without competitive bidding when the work cannot be reasonably described in written specifications:

• Item 16 would award Contract 26-10-RN16 to EPS for $164,406 over six months starting Nov. 1, 2026, for construction advisory, oversight and budget monitoring at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre, 54 Journal Square. The resolution cites an EPS proposal dated Sept. 24, 2026, and says EPS has been the Agency’s construction advisor on the Loew’s project since an earlier no-bid contract, 24-10-RN18. It names Kimberley Gillespie as principal-in-charge.
• Item 18 would award Contract 26-10-RN17 to EPS for $70,688 over 12 months for owner’s-representative services at the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse, 350 Washington St. and 80 Bay St., based on an EPS proposal dated Sept. 4, 2026.

Fiore’s certifications, attached to each resolution, say the services “cannot reasonably be described by written specifications” because the Agency needs a firm with specialized experience in construction advisement, budget monitoring and the restoration of historic properties and performance venues. For the Powerhouse, the certification says the Agency “cannot specify in advance the precise nature, sequence, or extent” of the advisory work it will need.

Each certification has a section headed “Describe the informal solicitation of quotations.” Neither lists another firm that was asked for a price. The Loew’s certification says EPS is a woman-owned firm, which it says furthers the Agency’s goal of supporting woman-owned businesses, and that EPS’s year of work on the theater’s design, budget and value engineering makes the award “critical to maintain a very aggressive schedule and avoid the costs of duplicating efforts and onboarding another firm that lacks such experience.” It concludes that “solicitation of other consultants would not benefit the Agency or the project.” The Powerhouse certification makes the same woman-owned point and says keeping EPS “will provide continuity of services and avoid duplication of effort.”

The Loew’s contract alone, $164,406 for six months, is more than three times the $50,000 cap on each of the one-year advisor contracts the Agency put out for proposals. Together, the two no-bid contracts are worth about 4.7 times that cap.

EPS has worked for the Agency under the same no-bid category before. Agency records list Contract 23-11-RN22, an extraordinary unspecifiable services contract for construction advisory work on the Loew’s Jersey Theatre that was later amended, and Contract 24-10-RN18, which the Oct. 20 resolution identifies as the contract that first authorized EPS’s Loew’s work. The Agency’s March 2026 notice of contract awards lists a third, 26-03-RN6, for $46,103 at 25 Journal Square, under the same section of state law. Watermen, LLC, another of tonight’s Item 7 picks, received a $180,000 contract in the same category in May 2026 for the Bayfront I area, according to the Agency’s May notice.

The packet does not say how much EPS has been paid under its earlier contracts. Hudson TV filed an Open Public Records Act request with the Agency on Oct. 19 for EPS’s contracts, certifications and payment history, along with the proposals and scoring for the Item 7 contracts.

What this story is not saying: A no-bid award backed by the required certification is a recognized procurement path under New Jersey law (N.J.S.A. 40A:11-5(1)(a)(ii) and N.J.A.C. 5:34-2.1), and continuity with a firm already on a project can be a lawful reason. The Agency filed the certifications. The open question is how the Agency squares putting construction-advisor work out for proposals in Item 7 while certifying that closely related advisory work in Items 16 and 18 can’t be written into specifications.

M&M Construction: advisor seat after a $1.925 million city settlement

One of the four Item 7 picks is M&M Construction Company, Inc. of Cranford. In April 2026, the Jersey City Council approved Resolution 26-186, paying M&M $1,925,000 to settle an arbitration over a 2021 contract to build the Engine 10 / Ladder 12 firehouse at 627 Grand St. The city had terminated that contract on Sept. 13, 2022, and the settlement treats it as “terminated for convenience.” The settlement was a mutual release and did not find fault by either side. NJ.com reported in February 2024 that the lot was still empty.

The Item 7 resolution says the four firms were chosen through the proposal and evaluation process. The packet does not include the evaluation report or scores, which Hudson TV has requested.

State Election Law Enforcement Commission records show M&M gave $25,000 to the Hudson County Democratic Organization on May 9, 2025, and $2,500 on March 13, 2026. The HCDO is a county party committee. Hudson TV reports the donations as public context and is not suggesting they violate any law.

Item 12: Grand Jersey legal budget goes from $100,000 to $450,000

Item 12 would amend Professional Services Contract 26-02-DJ11 with Mandelbaum Barrett PC, the Agency’s special counsel in Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Grand Jersey Group, LLC, et al. (docket HUD-C-000028-25). The Agency’s notice of the Feb. 17, 2026 award set the contract at no more than $100,000 for 12 months. The resolution says Mandelbaum asked on Sept. 30 for an increase “due to significant discovery and the pre-trial motion practice in the Lawsuit,” and would raise the cap to $450,000, 4.5 times the original amount, about eight months in. Mandelbaum’s request is not attached to the public packet.

Item 5: new executive director, pay not listed

Item 5 would hire Polina Bakhteiarov as executive director and board secretary under a three-year contract, subject to review by the state Department of Community Affairs. The packet does not list her salary or benefits. Fiore signs the packet’s documents as acting executive director.

If you want to weigh in

Item 1 on the agenda opens a public comment session. Commissioners listed on the packet’s vote sheets are Douglas Carlucci, Michael O. Griffin, Victor Negron Jr., Mary Pat Noonan, Darwin R. Ona, Mira Prinz-Arey and Chairwoman Denise Ridley. The packet says resolutions need four yes votes to pass.

Hudson TV asks: Should the Redevelopment Agency get competing price quotes before giving out no-bid advisor contracts like these? Reply A: Yes, every time. Reply B: No, keeping the same firm on a project makes sense.
Share your take in the comments.

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