Highway Department Cleaning Contract at the Center of Another Complaint

The cleaning company that lost the $380,000 Arkansas State Highway & Transportation Department janitorial contract last month filed a petition with Pulaski County Circuit Court Tuesday to get it back.

It’s the latest chapter in the fight between O.J.’s Service Two Inc. of North Little Rock and Razorclean Maids Inc. of North Little Rock, which won the contract.

Razorclean sued O.J.’s last month and accused it and its president, Charles Hinson, of engaging “in a campaign of threats and intimidation to the customers and references” of Razorclean, according to Razorclean’s lawsuit. As of Wednesday, O.J.’s hadn’t filed a response in that complaint.

Instead, O.J.’s filed a 30-page petition for a writ of mandamus to get a Pulaski County Circuit judge to throw out the contract with Razorclean and have it awarded to O.J.’s. O.J.’s said Razorclean didn’t meet all the bid requirements to obtain the contract. Razorclean’s s owner is Madre Hill, “a former highly celebrated Arkansas Razorback football player,” the petition said.

O.J.’s also said that it was “the responsive and responsible bidder who submitted the lowest bid.”

O.J.’s said that Razorclean didn’t meet the bid requirements such as performing at least four contracts on public office buildings within 25 miles of the highway department’s office building with each building covering an area of at least 130,000 SF.

O.J.’s said the Razorclean’s four references didn’t meet those requirements.

“Razorclean materially misrepresented the extent of services it provided to at least three of the four referenced properties relied on by the [highway department and its directors] in awarding the contract,” the writ said.

A spokesman for the highway department said he had no comment on the case.

Razorclean’s attorney, Tre’ Kitchens of Little Rock, said Wednesday, “My client didn’t do anything wrong. … Our position is we followed the law. … And O.J.’s has gone to great lengths to impugn us and we’ve got litigation pending about that.”