by Leah Justice
Contractors will have another shot at winning a bid on a project to run a waterline into White Oak Development in the Green Creek Township of Polk County.
Polk County Commissioners decided to rebid the project after receiving a bid protest, which has never occurred for a project in the county before.
Commissioners made the decision to rebid the project during a special meeting on Tuesday, April 1.
There were five total bids received for the project, which were opened on March 26. The low bidder was Double R Utilities Inc. but the second lowest bidder, Steppe Construction, protested the low bid, calling it unbalanced.
Polk County Engineer Dave Odom met with commissioners on April 1 and showed revised bid tabulations, which changed the low bidder to Steppe Construction.
“Because the revised bid tabulation changes the apparent low bidder for the project, it is my recommendation that all bids be rejected and that the project be rebid,” Odom told commissioners.
The project is to run Polk County’s Pea Ridge waterline into White Oak Development. The project is being funded through a grant, with White Oak paying matching funds, but the funding has to be funneled through Polk County.
Bids were received from Doube R Utilities Inc., Steppe Construction, C&W Utilities, Two Brothers Utilities and Marvin Hoyle Construction.
Odom said there was a miscalculation in the estimates, where contractors were asked to bid on five driveways, when there will only be three driveways. In that case the low bidder would have been Steppe Construction, with RR Utilities being only $170 higher, according to Odom. There was also disagreement on quantities with fittings, with Odom saying given these factors a low bidder cannot be determined and the only fair thing is to rebid the job.
The county plans to rebid the project and begin advertising this week. The requirement is seven days after the advertising the county can open the bids as soon as next Friday, April 11. The county can’t award the bid until April 18 or after, when the grant funding is scheduled to be released.
Commissioners also discussed the need to enact procurement protest procedures.
County attorney Jana Berg said the rationale behind enacting the procedures is should the county receive a bid protest, it has bylaws for the protest to go forward.
“The purpose of these procedures is to protect the public purse and to promote fair and open competition, not to provide a specific type of forum for bidders, contractors, vendors and anyone who seeks to contract with the county to provide goods and services,” states the draft procurement protest procedures.
Berg left blank a dollar threshold in section 2.0 of the draft and asked commissioners what amount they wish to insert where the protest procedures would be applicable.
Berg suggested projects of $200,000 or more, but commissioner Tom Pack said he didn’t just want to pull a number out of the air.
Odom said Polk County typically requires bonds on projects that are more than $100,000 and doesn’t require bonds for projects under $100,000.
Pack asked if the county could have amounts for utility projects and other amounts for other projects with Berg answering the county could have two separate thresholds depending on the type of project.
Odom said the $100,000 threshold for requiring bonds was a number that he and the county manager at the time came up with.
Pack said the county should also look at the bond threshold and come up with a written procedure for when the county requires bonds.
Commissioners came to a consensus to have Berg look at protest project amounts for the procedure as well as to draft a written procedure for the county requiring bonds on projects.
Commissioners tabled the consideration of enacting procurement protest procedures.