The bids are in for a planned expansion at Central Elementary School, but the project architect informed members of the Carter County Board of Education that there were problems with two of the bids during a workshop session Thursday afternoon.
The expansion at Central would construct six additional classrooms and additional bathrooms while allowing the school to eliminate modular classroom units at the school. Currently, three modular units are in use at Central holding the school’s Headstart program and two kindergarten classes.
In addition to getting rid of the modular units, Director of Schools Dr. Kevin Ward said the expansion would provide much-needed additional classroom space. Currently, two of the school’s special needs classrooms are being held in what were once a pair of teacher workrooms. Those rooms do not meet the state requirements for classroom space, Ward said.
Classes are also being held in one of the school’s computer labs, so when other classes need to use the lab space or student testing is underway, that class has to move somewhere else such as the gymnasium, cafeteria or, on days when the weather is nice, the picnic shelter outside.
The construction project was bid out and members of the Board received an update on those bids Thursday afternoon from architect Tony Street with the architecture firm Beeson, Lusk and Street.
“Some irregularities have shown up in the bids,” Street said. “There are certain laws in place and certain bidding procedures we have to follow.”
Among those regulations from the state, Street said bidders are required to list the names of major outside contractors, along with their licensing information, on the outside of the bid folder.
“In the case of our apparent low bidder, Trademark Construction, they had a list of sub-contractors that nobody else had and that we were not familiar with,” Street said.
Upon investigating the listed sub-contractors, Street said he discovered a problem with one of them.
“Their plumber had a limited license with a limit of $25,000,” Street said, adding the estimated cost of the plumbing portion of Trademark Construction’s bid was around $60,000.
Because the estimated cost of the plumbing portion was higher than the plumber’s limited license with the state, Street said it made that particular sub-contractor ineligible for the project.
“They did not list a properly licensed plumber in the state of Tennessee to complete this job, so we have to reject their bid,” Street said.
The second-lowest bidder, GRC Inc., also had to be disqualified, Street said. In the GRC bid, Street said the firm listed “not applicable” under the section for masonry contractor, despite the fact that masonry is a significant part of the overall project. GRC is licensed to do masonry work, Street said, but because they did not list themselves as the masonry contractor, their bid must also be rejected.
Comsa Construction came in with the next lowest bid at $1,430,000 — which Street said is the bid he was recommending because it was the lowest bid to meet all the state requirements. The Comsa bid came in about $33,000 higher than the lowest bid by Trademark, Street said.
Currently, the school system has $1,225,274 in a special Basic Education Program (BEP) Capital Reserve fund, Ward said. That money was provided by the state to help fund one-time capital expenditures.
With the money in the BEP Capital Reserve Fund, Ward said the school system would need to take $279,726 from its fund balance in order to finish funding the renovation.
Because Thursday was a workshop session for the Board and not a regularly scheduled Board meeting, no vote could be taken to approve the bid. The next Board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. Approving the bid would also require by the Carter County Commission to transfer the funds to expend. The County Commission next meets on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.
In order to help expedite the process and keep the project from falling behind a month, Ward said he may approach the Commission at its meeting to request it approve the project on a provisional basis bending approval by the Board of Education.