Bids come in for Jefferson expansion
Bids for a proposed addition to Dickinson Public School’s Jefferson Elementary came in lower than projected, officials said Thursday.
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Bids for a proposed addition to Dickinson Public School’s Jefferson Elementary came in lower than projected, officials said Thursday.
The call for bids officially closed for the Jefferson Elementary addition Thursday. After reviewing the information, the difference between the highest bid and lowest bid for Jefferson was about $107,700, a fairly small margin, said Jan Prchal, architect with Hulsing & Associates of Dickinson, the company working on both the Jefferson and Lincoln additions.
“It’s unusual that they would be that close together,” Prchal said.
Eight general contractors submitted bids — four local contractors, two from out of state and two from other parts of the state — for the Jefferson project, more than Prchal said they normally receive.
“It was a good turnout for the general contractors,” Prchal said. “I think the economy in other parts of the nation and other parts of the state (contributed to outside contractors). We had out-of-town bidders and out-of-state bidders that we usually don’t have.”
Comstock Construction Inc. of Fargo came in with the highest general base bid at $936,700. The lowest general base bid came in from Tooz Construction of Dickinson at $829,000, according to Dickinson Public Schools information.
Mechanical, electrical and “prime” bids — which encompass mechanical, general and electrical bids — were also opened.
Along with general bids, alternate bids were required. The alternate bids for Jefferson included: Additional cabinets, data and video service cabling in the classrooms and adding tubular skylights, among other items.
Alternate bid items may not necessarily be a part of the project, depending on whether or not the school board feels they can afford them, said Vince Reep, DPS assistant superintendent.
Reep said by state law, the school board must accept the lowest responsible bidder.
“The other piece that it really might change who the board awards the bid to, is with all of these alternate bids,” Reep said. “I think at this point I wouldn’t be willing to guess which way the board would go with these numbers, because of all the alternate bids.”
Spread over two fiscal years, the project, involving both Lincoln and Jefferson elementaries would be funded using a $2.2 million supplemental one-time grant along with $675,000 from a capital projects fund and about $684,000 from a general fund, according to an earlier Dickinson Press article.
The issue is expected to be discussed at the next DPS school board meeting, slated for March 8. Reep said the administrative recommendation will be to award the project to a contractor.
A bid opening for the addition to Dickinson’s Lincoln Elementary addition will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Central Administration Office in Dickinson.
General base bids
- Comstock Construction: $936,700
- CA Contracting, Inc: $907,330
- Kolling and Kolling: $869,600
- Ebenal General: $866,000
- MBA Construction: $854,800
- Big K Industries: $854,718
- Professional Contractors PCI: $840,000
- Tooz Construction: $829,000
— Information provided by Dickinson Public Schools
Tags: news, local, jefferson, dps, bids
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