A bid of more than $200,000 for the Brackenridge playground project has rocked Brackenridge Council.
Done Right Construction’s offer was the only one the district received.
It’s more than double the $95,000 in Allegheny County grant money that the county needs to spend on the project.
District Engineer Gordon Taylor expressed disappointment at Thursday’s council meeting that only one bid had been received.
“We had six contractors gathering information (bids) but only one made a bid,” Taylor said.
The project involves installing a new rubberized surface on the playground and removing some trees.
Council members were stunned by the offer and assumed that the cost would actually be less than the grant amount.
“The problem with that was that the trees were thrown in with the playground,” said Council President Tim Connelly, looking at the tender documents.
He said the contractors interested in designing the playground surface didn’t want to bother with removing the trees; They would have to use subcontractors to do this, which would increase their costs.
At the same time, he said, logging companies would not bid on the project because they did not want the renewal work.
Councilman John Stanzione agreed that it was a mistake to combine the two projects in one contract rather than separate them.
“Right now the only ones who can bid for the trees are the (subcontractors) of the playground contractors,” he said.
Connelly asked Taylor if Brackenridge County would allow the works to be offered under separate contracts. Taylor said he will contact county officials to see if this is possible.
The council then rejected the individual offer. The district will be soliciting new bids pending feedback from the county.
triblive.com
https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/brackenridge-to-seek-separate-bids-for-playground-resurfacing-tree-removal-after-combined-bid-was-too-high/
