A Biotech Blunder And No Explanation
Two months ago this page asked why Florida failed to seriously compete for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $450 million federal lab that's become the hottest ticket in the race of regions to build high-tech economies.
Despite numerous calls and queries, the responses we got from the three entities responsible for botching this opportunity were curious and contradictory. It's concerning because a state that fails to learn from its mistakes is bound to repeat them.
Our first attempt to find out what happened was met with silence from three key corners: Gov. Jeb Bush's office, Enterprise Florida and the University of Florida, the state's leading research university for agriculture and veterinary medicine.
We'd hoped that economic development leaders would explain how their decision to essentially pass on the Department of Homeland Security's project fits into plans for building the state's biotech industry - an effort that has cost taxpayers more than $925 million to recruit private research facilities to Central and South Florida.
Specifically, we wanted to know why Florida barely made a bid for the federal biotech facility that promises an economic windfall of as much as $6 billion over 20 years. Only Port St. Lucie's economic development council put together a last-minute bid after hearing about the project by happenstance. The bid was so weak it didn't survive the first round of cuts.
Texas A&M University, one of those still vying for the lab, characterizes the project's significance this way: "Securing the facility could literally place Texas A&M in the vanguard for cutting-edge research and discovery and enhance the economic landscape of the local community."
So after pressing again, this is the response we got:
At Enterprise Florida, Sena Black, senior vice president for marketing and information, offers only this empty answer: She doesn't know what happened.
At UF, Vice President for Research Win Phillips said that to accomplish something as large as winning this lab would have required the power of the governor's office.
And from Bush's office came a lengthy response not rooted in reality. It said the governor's office and others worked together "flawlessly" on the bid. "In all respects, Florida's efforts to secure the Agro Defense facility were superior, and exceeded expectations," the statement continued.
Well, if the governor considers a letter of a few short sentences that did nothing to tout the state's combined strength as a biotech center is considered a "superior" performance in winning a big federal contract, Florida ought to be seriously concerned about its economic development strength. Not even Port St. Lucie officials were willing to spin this as the state's best effort.
Florida needs economic development leaders who spot opportunities and move quickly, and who have the courage to explain why some may be passed up or other opportunities lost. State leaders need to be in search of biotech income, not just eager to give handouts.
And it needs to identify who's responsible for spotting opportunities for Florida to keep another huge failure from happening again.
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