A new fight over the rebuild of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is shaping up: Maryland laws require that minority-owned businesses complete a chunk of the work, and President Donald Trump’s administration sees such policies as “unlawful.”
In a letter Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy asked Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for clarity on the cost and timing of the project, and criticized “race- or sex-conscious factors in contracting decisions.”
“Discrimination based on race is, has been, and will continue to be unlawful, except in rare circumstances,” Duffy wrote.
Moore, in a public response to the letter, made no mention of the state’s minority contracting laws. The Democratic governor wrote about the disruption caused by the loss of the bridge and the importance of replacing it quickly and efficiently.
“We will continue to work with the Trump Administration to find ways to reduce costs and rebuild faster,” Moore wrote.
Whether action taken by the Trump administration, such as anti-DEI executive orders earlier this year, would apply to the state’s contract with the bridge builder is unclear, but the new letter shows that potential trip wires may lie ahead.
Maryland has long awarded a portion of state contracts, including for major transportation projects, to businesses whose owners are from historically disadvantaged groups, such as racial minorities, women and veterans.
The state passed its first law establishing the Minority Business Enterprise program in 1978 and now has some of the strongest minority business guidelines in the country.
The program aims to reach about 30% minority business participation in the contracts it awards. In the case of the Key Bridge, the goal is 31.5%.
During regular meetings of various state agencies — including the Board of Public Works, which signs off on major contracts — it is common for board members to discuss minority business participation goals.
The two officials who sit on the Board of Public Works with the governor, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, declined to comment Friday.
During President Joe Biden’s administration last year, Congress approved a plan to fund 100% of the bridge rebuild.
Although Trump has questioned whether federal coffers will pay for it, Duffy indicated Thursday that financing plan is still on — with a catch.
Because the project is “fully funded” by the federal government, Duffy’s office “will provide oversight to ensure the funds are used appropriately,” he wrote.
Trump and his team have consistently maligned diversity, equity and inclusion programs, but this is the first time the high-profile Key Bridge project has been roped into the conversation.
“Any reliance on race- or sex-conscious factors in contracting decisions could introduce significant legal vulnerabilities and inefficiencies in the management of the project,” Duffy wrote.
His remarks echo his decree from April entitled “Follow the Law.” In it, Duffy said that recipients of federal transportation dollars must hire based upon “merit.”
Duffy has questioned the cost of the Key Bridge replacement, initially pegged to be nearly $2 billion. And the president has threatened to cancel the federal government’s promise to fully fund the project, even though the spending was authorized by Congress last year.
“The original estimates I don’t think are anywhere near accurate,” Duffy told reporters in late August. “I think it’s going to be double, plus.”
The bridge is expected to be completed by October 2028. State officials have said they will soon update the cost and timeline.
Trump issued an executive order in January that aimed to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.”
That, however, came after Maryland had already entered into a contract with the bridge builder, Kiewit, last year. It is unclear if that order would retroactively apply.
“It’s as much a federalism, states’ rights and separation of powers question as it is a question of procurement law,” said Barry Gogel, a government contracts attorney at Rifkin Weiner Livingston in Towson.
In response to Duffy’s letter, the nine Democrats in Maryland’s congressional delegation defended the funding and process for replacing the bridge.
“The federal government’s commitment to fund the rebuild is enacted into law, and the construction contract was awarded through a legal, competitive, transparent process,” they wrote in a statement Friday.
The Key Bridge, which carried busy Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River, collapsed in March 2024 after being struck by a wayward cargo ship, killing six construction workers.
As engineers continue to design the replacement span, crews will soon begin testing the bridge’s foundation. Steel piles are en route to Baltimore, where they will be driven into the Patapsco River. A test frame will then apply as much as 10 million pounds of pressure on the 200-foot piles, measuring the structure’s strength.
Banner reporter Brenda Wintrode contributed to this article.
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.