The Oconto County Board set course on a new strategy Thursday after bids for construction of a law enforcement center came in $1.53 million over budget.
To keep the project on schedule, the County Board selected three contractors to begin earth-moving and foundation work for the center, but agreed to rebid a slew of other work either because no bids were received or bids came in high.
“We need to dig in on why we got those high numbers and make some clarifications in the bids so we can get them closer to the budget number,” said Kurt Berner, vice president of The Samuels Group, the county’s consultant for the LEC project.
The center, to be built north of the courthouse, will include jail housing for up to 175 inmates, a sheriff’s administration area and a 911 center.
Berner said previously construction prices increased 2.5 percent a month in 2015, and while $23.5 million is the target budget for the center, bids came in at $25.1 million. The $25.1 million doesn’t include 10 features, like a snow melt system at the entrance and finishing work in the kitchen, bid as alternates by the county in an attempt to reduce the scope of the project and lower its cost.
County Board Chairman Lee Rymer encouraged supervisors to approve bids for excavating, utilities and foundation, to get the project started.
“If we approve those, we can keep it moving,” Rymer said.
Supervisors awarded the three contracts with a 29-2 bid, with supervisors Guy Gooding and Chris Augustine voting no. Gooding asked how many bids were received for each construction category, stating that any categories with only one bid should be rebid.
“If we rebid the project, it would delay the project,” Berner responded, saying a second attempt wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a lower bid. Delaying the project will add to the construction costs because it’s more costly to work in winter conditions, he added.
“There’s a lot of good things that happened on bid day,” he said, yet he conceded some areas were high.
Berner isolated five bids that added up to a $1.5 million overrun: safety and security at $4.7 million ($854,000 over budget), concrete work at $1.4 million ($394,000 over), fire suppression at $367,000 ($108,000 over), woods, plastics and composites at $322,000 ($167,000 over) and aluminum entrances and storefront at $200,000 ($71,000 over).
In explaining why the bids were over budget, Berner said some contractors didn’t have time to submit bids and would submit competitive bids if the deadline was extended to late August.
In addition, other contractors did not submit bids because they could not provide a performance and payment bond, as required for public projects over $148,000. The bond is an insurance policy to be used if the contractor defaults on completing the work promised.
Also, some bids were not submitted correctly. Berner said 20-30 bids were emailed or faxed to The Samuels Group, which did not meet the requirement of submitting the bid to the courthouse. Through the rebid process, these contractors’ bids can be considered if they are submitted appropriately.
Bids will be due Aug. 20 and considered by the County Board when it meets in special session on Aug. 27. On Aug. 27 supervisors will also consider about 20 bids submitted by July 14 but put on hold, as recommended by Berner. Contractors who submitted bids by July 14 are required to honor their bids 45 days, until Aug. 28.
On Thursday, supervisors approved only three bids. Ostrenga Excavating, of Green Bay, was hired for earthwork after submitting a bid of $587,393. Barley Trucking, of Menominee, Mich., was approved for site utilities, at $411,094, and Foundation Service Corporation, of Hudson, Iowa, was approved for installing rammed aggregate system which will be used instead of steel pilings. An aggregate impact system is a ground improvement process in which gravel and stone are packed with the soil.
Foundation Service Corporation submitted a bid of $1.05 million, $200,000 over the budgeted amount, because more aggregate will be needed than originally planned, Berner said. The committees in charge of the LEC project chose the aggregate system over pilings because of the boggy soil conditions where the LEC will be built.
