Bids were opened Thursday for construction of a new Vigo County Jail, and they appear to fall below a project estimate.
Thirty-five companies bid in 13 categories on construction work such as general trades, structural steel, masonry, roofing, painting and mechanical and plumbing.
Base bids ranged from a high of more than $62.81 million to a low of more than $56.49 million.
With alternate bids included for items such as fencing, a perimeter drive, site screen wall and sally ports, the bids ranged from a high total of more than $62.94 million to a low total of more than $56.68 million.
Vigo County commissioners had estimated the construction cost of a jail at $63.5 million.
Garmong Construction Services, which is serving as construction manager, is expected to make a decision within a month on recommendations for the county to award bids.
“We will go through and will review financial statements included with the bids,” said Lance Gassert, an engineer and vice president for Garmong Construction Services.
“We have to review relative experience and we will scope review the contractors to ensure they have a complete scope of work. Then we will make a recommendation to the commissioners to make an award” of contracts, Gassert said.
All but three categories had at least three companies submitting bids. Three categories — asphalt paving; flooring and ceramic tile; and detention equipment, each had single bidders.
In asphalt paving, Wabash Valley Asphalt Co. bid $585,237 and added a bid of $117,795 for a perimeter drive. For flooring and ceramic tile, Santarossa Mosaic & Tile Co. bid $293,000.
Detention equipment was the most costly single-area category. This is for jail cells that will house inmates. That base bid was more than $16.87 million from Pauly Jail Building Co. The company also added a bid of $4,800 for site fencing.
Other high expense categories include general trades, with base bids ranging from a low of more than $15.1 million to a high of more than $15.9 million; mechanical and plumbing, with base bids ranging from more than $6.7 million to more than $7.9 million; and electrical systems, with base bids ranging from a low of more than $6.5 million to a high of more than $7.1 million.
The project’s base bid includes four pull-through sally ports and one storage sally port for a new jail. An alternate reduces that to two pull-through sally ports and one storage sally port. With the lower number of sally ports, it could reduce the project by $205,090 to $314,022, based on low and high deductions in bids submitted in categories of steel, roofing, painting, fire protection, general trade, mechanical and plumbing, and electrical costs.
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