Authority opens, tabulates sewerage project bids
BROWNSVILLE – The bids have been opened and tabulated for the second phase of improvements to the Brownsville Municipal Authority’s sewerage system. A total of 13 bids were received for the three contracts that make up the work to be done. The first contract is for the reconstruction of five sanitary pump stations and an equalization tank. According to Bill Johnson of Fayette Engineering, who is serving as the project manager, New Atlas Development is the apparent low bidder for that contract. New Atlas bid $978,068 to do the work. There were two other bidders, with the highest about $100,000 more than New Atlas.
The second contract to be considered is the electrical portion of the pump station work. W.R. Casteel Co. is the apparent low bidder for that work with a bid of $459,619. Johnson said there were seven bidders for the electrical work, with five of them submitting bids within $35,000 of one another. The highest bid was around $628,000.
Three contractors submitted bids for the reconstruction of sanitary sewer lines, including those in the downtown area. J.R. Contracting was the apparent low bidder for that work, with a bid of $2,748,415. Johnson said the highest bid for the sewer line work was $2.89 million.
This was the second time the project was put out for bids due to problems with the minority contractor notification procedures and irregularities on some of the documentation from the apparent low bidders. Johnson said additional work was included in the contracts for the pump stations and electrical work, so both of those projects came in at a higher price than in the first set of bids. The sewer construction work, however, came in lower than in the initial bidding, Johnson said. The previous low bid for reconstruction of the sewer lines was $3,164,134.
Johnson said Fayette Engineering would have a recommendation on the bidders for the municipal authority early this week, though the authority most likely will not act on the bids until its regular monthly meeting on April 18.