Thursday, July 27, 2000 Older Editions

High subcontracting bids delay start Safety center shuffle continues

By Rebecca Piro

More than a year after Town Meeting voted to build a new safety center, residents are still waiting for workers to break ground.

The current hold-up is because the town needed to send four subcontracting jobs out for rebidding to avoid facing overruns of more than $850,000.

The subcontracting bids opened on June 6 greatly exceeded the town's estimate of $4,609,000 for subcontracting trades, said Project Manager Phil Tuminelli. The lowest bids for each job added up to $5,466,235, putting the sum overbudget by approximately $856,000.

The 14 subcontracting jobs received 58 bids, with each trade drawing between two and eight bids. Some of those volumes were below expectation, Tuminelli said.

"Generally you hope to get between four and five bids for each subcontracting job," he said.

The four jobs submitted for rebid were heating and ventilation, roofing, tile, and resilient flooring.

Because there is such a demand for construction throughout the state, Tuminelli was not surprised to see the bids come in so high.

Before the four jobs were rebid, the town made changes in some of the materials required and looked for opportunities to save money, which will hopefully relieve the difference between the new bids that come in and the town's estimate, said Tuminelli.

"We try to come up with realistic numbers," said Joe Piantedosi, director of plant and facilities .

The town worked hard on changing the proposals to keep the project within budget, said Piantedosi, and both he and Tuminelli are optimistic that the new subcontracting bids will be more reasonable when they are opened Aug. 3.

A general contractor bid has not been awarded yet, said Tuminelli, although eight bids were opened June 29, all of which were over the $10,094,070 construction budget. The lowest bidder -- Mello, based out of Taunton -- came in at 10,147,500. Mello's past projects include the Westford police station and various other public projects, Tuminelli said. Though Mello's bid is approximately $53,000 over budget, that number could escalate if the subcontractor bids come back high.

When the town realized it had to rebid the four subcontracting jobs, the general contractors who had already submitted bids were told to carry an allowance, or extra balance, to cover the four subcontractor jobs that were still awaited, Tuminelli said. That allowance is more than $500,000, said Director of Plant and Facilities Joe Piantedosi. However, if the subcontractor bids come back higher than that amount, the town will have to pick up the difference, said Tuminelli.

It is a possibility that the town may have to increase the overall budget for the project, he added.

However, it would be premature to guess at the cost before all the bids are in, said Piantedosi. If the town is lucky, the four subcontracting jobs could come in much lower than the first time and balance the budget. "We won't know whether we're overbudget or not until we look at the total picture," he said.

In the event that the town falls short on its estimate, the town has two options, Piantedosi explained. The town has the right to reject all bids, if it determines that none of the figures submitted are satisfactory, and could rebid the entire project. Or, the town could proceed with construction overbudget and try to make up the difference by taking from the contingency.

It is also possible that residents would need to approve more funds at Town Meeting.