Uniontown council allows contractor to withdraw bid
Uniontown City Council voted Monday to allow a Pittsburgh contractor to withdraw a bid for a sanitary sewer project after the contractor claimed omissions and mathematical errors were the reason the bid was nearly $900,000 lower than the next highest bid. Following a recommendation from city engineer Dave Meredith, council voted to allow Tedesco and Son Inc. to withdraw its $3,302,687.25 bid.
The vote wasn’t unanimous, however. Councilman Blair R. Jones Sr. voted against the motion and said he was leaning toward forcing Tedesco to perform the work.
Jones’ comments came after Meredith revealed that three or four years ago in Bethel Park he had the same type of problem, namely omissions and miscalculations, with the same contractor. Because of Tedesco’s track record, Jones said the city should reconsider allowing the contractor to withdraw.
“We should make him do it. I’m leaning toward forcing the guy to do this job,” Jones said.
Councilman Gary Crozier disagreed with Jones. “If we make him do it in long run it could hurt us,” Crozier said.
Meredith told the council and mayor that they would be within their rights to try to force the contractor to perform the work and he could either forfeit his bid bond or try to do it.
But Meredith cautioned that if the contractor tried to do it using his bid, “it would become a nightmare of a contract.”
“His approach would be to try to cut costs and he could ‘nickel and dime’ the city to death. We also could put him out of business,” Meredith said.
He said it wouldn’t be worth it to try to force the contractor for the bid bond, because the city would only generate $300,000 that way and it wouldn’t solve the shortfall.
Solicitor Daniel L. Webster explained that the reasons Tedesco asked for the bid to be withdrawn were that he omitted the traffic control and stone backfill requirements, which caused a substantial reduction.
In a second letter, Tedesco cited additional mathematical errors in the unit price of stone in calculating the bid.
Webster said that standard legislation states that in allowing a withdrawal, the bid has to meet three criteria: the price was submitted in good faith, credible evidence of a clerical mistake and an unintentional omission of substantial quantity of work, labor or material.
Webster added that Tedesco has to pay printing and advertising fees associated with the rebid and council could ban Tedesco from submitting another bid.
Meredith said there was a “fairly substantial difference” between Tedesco’s bid and the second lowest bid of $4,188,210.
He said since the state is financing the project, the city would need to ask for an additional $1 to $1.2 million.
Without extra funding, Meredith said the city could incur an annual debt service increase of between $50,000 and $60,000 per year.
Instead of going with the second lowest bidder, Meredith recommended reformulating the project by taking out items not critical to the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered separation of the sanitary and storm sewer lines to lower the cost.
The city received a $5.7 million loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority for the project, which involves three separate contracts to separate sanitary and storm water lines.
Sewer department head Phil Mahoney said one of the reasons for the higher-than-anticipated bids is that the state Department of Transportation wouldn’t give a “straight answer” about allowing alternative materials for the road.
Meredith said if all the stone must be purchased, the 54,000 tons of stone has a price tag of close to $1 million.
“That’s why it has escalated the way it has,” he said. Meredith said sometimes existing material can be used, but if it doesn’t pass a test, it will have to be purchased anyway. “It’s a ‘pay me now or pay me later’ situation,” he said.
Webster said that legally the city could exclude Tedesco from the rebidding process.
Council then approved a resolution to permit the withdrawal of Tedesco and Son Inc. of 305 Concord Drive, Pittsburgh, with the condition that the contractor pays all costs in connection with the rebid, including printing, advertising and notice.
Jones voted against the motion, with Crozier, Joseph Giachetti, Bob Cerjanec and Mayor Jim Sileo voting in favor.
Council also approved a resolution to reject the remaining four bids with the same vote.
Council directed Meredith to rebid the project after it is reviewed.
At the conclusion of the meeting, it was announced that the November meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, due to Election Day.