District 86 Summer Improvement Bids Rejected

In accordance with the wishes of the administration, the  board of education Monday night voted to reject all bids submitted for Summer 2011 interior and exterior renovation improvements to and  high schools.

The district's administration recommended that the over-budget bids be rejected and the bid package be narrowed in scope. The board complied with a unanimous rejection vote at its regular action meeting at Hinsdale South.  

District 86 business manager Jeff Eagan said the package will be re-bid and voted on by the board at its May 16 meeting.

According to Eagan, three companies submitted bids for the improvements but no bids came in below the district's budgeted amount of $1,083,725. 

Bergen Construction Corporation of Palatine had the lowest bid at $1,759,000, more than $650,000 greater than the district's budget threshold.

A majority of the renovations in the rejected package were mandatory Life Safety improvements. Eagan said schools are required to be inspected by an architect every 10 years to make sure they're current on safety codes. The schools then have to be up to code within five years.

"We’re in the fifth year of that report so those items need to get done this summer," Eagan said.

Those improvements will make up the "base bid" in May, according to Eagan.

Board member George Kumis commented on the difference between budget and bid. 

"It looks like our architect was off significantly with respect to his estimated total cost," Kumis said.

Eagan replied, "Yes and no."

He suspected the nature of the improvements—which include proper doors and fire separations in the walls—are partly to blame for bids coming in high.

"It’s finicky work," Eagan said, explaining that much of the Life Safety work is done above the ceilings. "It’s finicky work and [the bidders] priced it that way."

Other non-safety improvements were included in the rejected bid, as well, Eagan said. Hinsdale South's poolroom and field house were to see mechanical improvements, and bidders may have priced high due to relatively quick turnaround on such projects.

Eagan expressed confidence that the Life Safety base bid would come in under the district's budgeted amount when the narrowed package is put out to bid May 9.

The mechanical improvements will be presented alongside as "alternate bids," according to Eagan. The final package of improvements to be made this summer may be the sum of the base bid with one or several alternate bids.

"[The board] can kind of piece it together based on the budget and where the bids come in," Eagan said.