The most visible will be a new cruise terminal, budgeted at $30 million, to host Carnival Cruise Line's Ecstasy. When it arrives in November, the 2,052-passenger Ecstasy will be the third ship the company is basing at Port Canaveral, its largest presence at any domestic port.

Skanska USA Building Inc., the U.S. division of the Sweden-based construction giant, with an office in Orlando, submitted the low bid and was chosen to lead the project.

When the new terminal is completed, possibly as soon as the summer of 2012, Canaveral Port Authority CEO J. Stanley Payne hopes to extend the port's deal with Carnival by signing a five-year or longer contract.

Port commissioners on Wednesday also approved a $34 million project to build berths at the new terminal as well as at an existing one, Cruise Terminal No. 10, and carry out dredging that will help the port accommodate the largest cruise ships.
Together, the projects could create 250 to 300 construction and engineering jobs, according to the officials involved.

Before approving the terminal construction project, there was a lengthy discussion on the thorny issue of the bidding process that concluded with Skanska winning the contract, beating out, among the four other bidders, two local contractors. They were Doug Wilson Enterprises of Melbourne and W&J Construction Corp. of Rockledge.

A three-person review committee selected Skanska.

"We have five quality companies that could deliver this building," said John Walsh, the authority's executive director of infrastructure.

Skanska had the best presentation and team, and also came closest to the port's budget of $30 million, Walsh said.

Nick Witek, president of W& J Construction, faulted the bidding process used in awarding te contract because it didn't spell out more clearly the cost formula being used. He also he didn't find out until after the fact that a good portion of the evaluation process was based on presentation.

W&J Construction, in business for 46 years, has been involved in number of projects at Port Canaveral.

"We were disappointed in the scoring system used by the (review) committee," Witek said.

Skanska representatives said 18 of the 22 subcontractors that will work on the project, including the main builder and the main designer, are Brevard companies. And most of the jobs, said John Clark, senior project manager for Skanska's Orlando, will likely come from Brevard.

Skanska is teaming with Ivey's Construction, based on Merritt Island, and BRPH Cos., based in Palm Shores, among others.

Port Commissioner R. Bruce Deardoff, while voting in favor of Skanska, said he hoped port officials monitor how many local firms and workers are used in the project. If it's not as expected, "everybody on this commission is going to get very upset," he said.