Bridge contract awarded
A Uniontown engineering firm was awarded a bridge inspection contract at Thursday’s Fayette County Commissioner’s meeting, despite receiving another bid that was $41,000 lower. Commissioners Joseph Hardy and Vincent A. Vicites voted to retain Fayette Engineering Co. Inc. to inspect 61 county bridges for the next three years. Commissioner Chairwoman Angela Zimmerlink voted against the hiring.
The firm entered a bid of $220,000 to do the work. That cost is for 50 of the 61 bridges because Fayette Engineering does inspections of the remaining 11 bridges, which are smaller, for free, said Paul Nixon, head of the bridge department.
The county is responsible for paying 20 percent of that cost ($44,000) and PennDOT pays the remaining 80 percent ($176,000), Nixon said.
The EADS Group in Somerset offered to do the three-year job for $179,000, Zimmerlink said. That included pay for inspection of all 61 bridges, Nixon said.
Fayette Engineering submitted a proposal that charged $220,000 for the inspections.
With the 80-20 breakdown, the county would have paid $35,800 for The EADS Group, saving $8,200.
When asked to recommend one of the firms, Nixon initially said it was up to the commissioners, but later said he would recommend Fayette Engineering.
The firm, Nixon said, has been excellent in terms of service to the county. He said Fayette Engineering has been working with the county since 1996, and does free consulting work.
“They’re very dependable. I enjoy working with them because they have a good record,” Nixon said.
Zimmerlink suggested possibly splitting the work among three firms for the extent of the three-year contract, but solicitor Joseph E. Ferens Jr. said that the request for proposals asked firms to bid on three years of work, not one.
“I think if you’re going to change the rules, you’re going to have to go back to these people,” Ferens said.
The first request for proposals for this project was sent out in July, and the original figures were higher, Zimmerlink said. The county re-bid the project and many of the bids came in lower, she said. In one case, a firm dropped their proposal from $400,000 to $235,000, Zimmerlink said.
County Manager Warren Hughes previously said that the county spent $87,419.08 for bridge inspections in 2004. That was under a 30-month contract with Fayette Engineering awarded in 2001.