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The city of Portland will have to take a few steps back on a project to rebuild Fire Station 21 near the Hawthorne Bridge on the east bank of the Willamette River.

After a competitive proposal process, the city issued an intent to award a $700,00 design contract to Whelton Architecture, one of four architecture firms short-listed for the project. On Tuesday, the city issued a notice that it was rescinding that award and stepping back in the process to once again conduct interviews with the short-listed candidates.

That notice was in response to a letter of protest sent by William Hart, a principal at Carleton Hart Architecture. Carleton Hart was among the shortlisted architecture firms. In his letter, Hart said the selection process did not follow the one outlined in the city’s request for proposals.

In his letter, Hart pointed out that the city had expressed in the RFP and pre-proposal meeting that once a short list had been selected, those firms would 鈥渟tart from zero鈥� at the interview phase. Points given during the proposal phase were to be kept separate from interview considerations. However, documents from the selection process showed that proposal-phase scores relating to diversity and cost were carried through to the interview phase and adjusted for some firms, though those issues were not even discussed in Carleton Hart’s interview.

If the math were re-calculated to fit the correct process, Hart believed his firm would have been awarded the contract.

The city acknowledged its mistake by rescinding the award.

鈥淲e’re going back to where (the process) deviated from the process outlined in the RFP,鈥� said Abby Coppock, management analyst for the city’s Office and Management and Finance.

Hart declined to comment for this story.