The Community College of Allegheny County canceled a bid deadline previously set for Tuesday for construction of a new science building on its North Side campus after a lawsuit filed by non-union contractors alleged the procurement process shut them out of work.

It was unclear how much of a delay the college's decision means for the $21 million K. Leroy Irvis Science Center, but County Manager James Flynn, a member of CCAC's board of trustees, said he did not believe it would be significant.

Mr. Flynn, who said he had not seen the lawsuit, said he did not believe it was the only reason for CCAC's announcement and that there was also concern that the bid language was not precise enough and needed to be reviewed.

A revised timeline for those bids has not been determined, and CCAC plans to undertake "a full review of the procurement process, as well as the inclusion of several addenda into the core specifications" of the project, a statement by CCAC read.

The decision, announced late Tuesday afternoon, comes a day after the Western Pennsylvania chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. and several individual contractors filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. The suit asserted that CCAC employed a project stabilization agreement requiring that "virtually all of a contractor's work force on the Science Center Project must be hired through union halls."

Reacting to CCAC's announcement, the association said it will not consider the matter resolved until a college policy is in place rejecting such agreements on all future projects.

"There are small businesses that [provide] a lot of jobs, and their employees are being shut out of work they could be bidding on," said Eileen Watt, president of the Western Association branch. "When you cut out competition, you drive up costs. Somebody has to pick up the costs. It will be taxpayers and students."

Mr. Flynn said the county uses project labor agreements that ensure prevailing wages are paid but do not specify that any percentage of work be done by union firms.

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