JIREH Construction Sues VDOT for Discrimination
News related to:JIREH Construction Co., Inc · 2 min read
RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 5, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- JIREH Construction Co., Inc., a Black-owned Richmond highway contractor, has filed a lawsuit against the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that VDOT discriminated against JIREH by rejecting its bid for a nearly $4 million highway project, citing a rule that VDOT did not apply to other bidders.
Project L48, a sidewalk and traffic-signal project in four counties around Richmond, was the subject of the rejected bid. JIREH was the only bidder on the project. VDOT opened the bid on October 23, 2024, and rejected it 12 days later. The rejection letter gave no specific reason for the rejection, despite VDOT's own records showing that it had awarded at least 80 contracts to bidders whose prices exceeded the published project values. From September 2022 through August 2024, VDOT awarded contracts to bidders whose bids were 26.74% to 41% over the project value, with one contract awarded at nearly 41% over the project value. VDOT approved this award 16 days after it rejected JIREH's bid.
The lawsuit alleges that VDOT's rejection of JIREH's bid was discriminatory and part of a pattern of bias against minority contractors. On October 22, 2024, the day before the letting, JIREH's owner, Willie C. Lee, wrote VDOT's Chief Engineer about the implicit bias faced by minority contractors. The next day, VIREH raised the same concerns with another senior VDOT official. VDOT's letter rejecting JIREH's bid is dated the same day as the second letter from Lee. VDOT had let Project L48 twice in two months, but after the October rejection, it has not advertised the project again.
In December 2023, VDOT awarded JIREH a contract of about $900,000 at 26.74% over the project value, which JIREH completed on time. The lawsuit also cites the Commonwealth's 2025 Disparity Study, which found that from July 2019 through June 2024, Black-owned firms received about eleven cents of each state agency construction dollar their availability predicted. The complaint asserts claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The case is JIREH Construction Co., Inc. v. Virginia Department of Transportation, No. 3:26-cv-01387-DJN (E.D. Va.). JIREH is represented by Mark J. Krudys of The Krudys Law Firm, PLC.