Scituate’s town administrator said a non-profit group’s recent bid to build a maritime community college in Scituate failed to explain how the school was going to be funded, among other flaws.

In a letter addressed to Jeffrey Rosen, president of the Marine and Environmental Education Alliance, Scituate Town Administrator Patricia Vinchesi listed seven shortcomings in the group’s proposal to build an Ocean Campus Center on the Driftway.

Vinchesi said the group’s bid was “non-responsive” in that it failed to address issues related to the project’s financing and permitting. The requirements were listed in the town’s request for proposals , released last November. The Marine and Environmental Education Alliance submitted the lone bid.

Last week, Scituate’s selectmen voted to reject the bid and close the request for proposals. Several board members said they may revisit plans for a maritime college later this year.

However, Rosen said he has already been contacted by officials from at least six other South Shore communities who want to bring a maritime college to their respective towns.

Rosen said it was impossible for his group to meet some of Scituate’s requirements, such as its request for bidders to identify members of the project’s development team. Even though Massasoit Community College had publicly announced its intent to serve as the college’s academic administrator, Rosen said Massasoit was prohibited, by state law, from signing on as official educational partner because the building had not yet been built.

Vinchesi’s letter also said the group was unable to identify all the permits and approvals that were needed to advance the project, nor was it able to demonstrate its ability to begin the permitting process.

The alliance said it needed more time to meet with planners to identify the permits that were needed. Rosen said his group was at a disadvantage because the town would not transfer the land to the winning bidder until all the permits and approvals were obtained. The alliance said it could not secure project funding from lenders until the town transferred the property to the group.

“They put things in the (request for proposals) that should not have been required, things that never could have been met,” Rosen said. “Someone didn’t want this (project) to fly from the beginning.”

Vinchesi said the request for proposals was drafted – and the bid was reviewed – in compliance with the state’s procurement laws.

“The RFP process is a very complicated and technical process in which town-owned land cannot be given away without meeting certain requirements,” Vinchesi said.

The Marine and Environmental Education Alliance said it would cost about $18 million to build the college on the Driftway. In its bid, the group listed only $11,943 in assets and liabilities, a net annual income of $3,023 for calendar year 2010, and a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to fund a feasibility study.

The alliance “believes it will be able to get the commitments but identifies no funding source,” Vinchesi wrote in the letter to Rosen.

Patrick Ronan may be reached at pronan@ledger.com.

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