Two months after a Jacksonville company was recommended for a high-profile city contract, Mayor John Peyton decided to reject it and start the search over.

The mayor’s decision brings to an end a process that has been in limbo after a controversial committee meeting where a City Council member was accused of trying to influence the final outcome. Now all three firms that applied for the job will have to resubmit applications and possibly compete against additional firms that express interest.

General Counsel Cindy Laquidara wrote the mayor a memo Wednesday that suggested he reject the Professional Services Evaluation Committee’s Sept. 17 recommendation to award D. Wilson Consulting Group the contract, which could have been worth as much as $1.5 million.

She said the request for proposals should be rewritten to more clearly define the scoring process if applicants are interviewed. Laquidara also suggested the city remove a requirement that the winning firm conduct legal analysis as part of the study. The General Counsel’s Office could handle that task and save taxpayers money, she said.

The companies had applied to conduct a disparity study to determine whether women- and minority-owned businesses are treated fairly when trying to obtain contracts with the city, its independent agencies or the school system. The applications were judged on 10 criteria, such as cost, that were used to create an initial score and ranking.

D. Wilson Group said it could do the study in 18 months for $1.5 million. Miller³ said it could do the study in 15 months for $1.2 million. The Humphrey Institute had the lowest cost, because of heavy university subsidization, of $650,000 for one year.

Because all three companies scored highly and were separated by only two points, the evaluation committee decided to move into a second evaluation phase: the interview. The committee ranked the applicants solely based on the interviews, leading to D. Wilson Group getting the nod.

That September meeting lasted for nearly five hours, mainly because of constant interruptions by City Councilwoman E. Denise Lee. Two committee members later said it appeared that Lee was subtly lobbying for one of the applicants.

One unnamed committee member took his concerns to the General Counsel’s Office. As a result, Laquidara asked Peyton to hold off on acting on the committee recommendation — something that usually happens automatically — until she could do some investigating.

In making her recommendation Wednesday, Laquidara briefly mentioned the controversy surrounding the committee meeting. But her memo focused on other concerns she has with the language in the request for proposals.

Dave Miller Sr., president and CEO of Miller³, said he isn’t sure if his firm will apply again. His company was ranked first after the initial scoring of the companies’ proposals but dropped to second place after the interview. He said his company spent roughly $5,000 responding to the request for proposals, a lengthy application that is now public record and liable to be reviewed by other businesses interested in the contract.

“What we have now is potential collateral damages to those competitors without any consequences to the city,” Miller said.

tia.mitchell@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4425