Despite recent indictments in a bid-rigging case involving the contractor originally hired to supervise McCormick Place's expansion, officials at the Chicago convention center say the $850-million project will go on as planned. A second bidding process is now in the works, with groundbreaking set for late May and completion by 2008, according to execs at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (also known as McPier), which runs McCormick Place. "If there were ever a time where something like this [scandal] would have the least impact [on the expansion], it's now," asserts Billy Weinberg, a spokesman for McPier. He says the suspected bid- rigging occurred under McPier's former head (who is now serving time on a different corruption charge): "I think people realize these alleged incidents don't reflect the policies instituted with our new CEO." Other local insiders say the bid- rigging charges won't discourage shows from coming to Chicago. "Bid-rigging won't affect buying decisions because it doesn't affect planners' budgets," says Edina Lessack, president of Meetings & Events USA. More likely to discourage show business, she says, are Chicago's high labor costs."Chicago's a terrific city to hold a convention in, except for a few outdated labor rules," says National Restaurant Association conventions head Mary Pat Heftman. "You can't expect customers to pay two to three times [for labor] what they'd pay in Vegas or Orlando."