Here’s more of the details reviewing Gallatin’s sewer project

Toby Dougherty, Gallatin City Administrator

The Board of Aldermen passed two resolutions accepting the bids and awarding the contracts for the sewer improvement project. As you may remember, this is something that was also done back in August/September. I will attempt to explain why this had to be done.

2.5 million of the 2.9 million dollars that we will use for the sewer project is coming from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). As a result, every action that we take with regards to the project is subject to USDA oversight and approval.

The sewer project was bid out in two separate areas, the collection system expansion and the treatment facility upgrades. The bids were opened on August 19th. At that time there were three bidders on the collection system expansion and two bidders on the treatment facility upgrades. After reviewing the bids, our engineering firm recommended that we accept the bids of Sterling Excavation for the collection system expansion and Lawhon Construction for the treatment facility upgrades. These were the lowest bids in each area.

Over the next two meetings, the Board of Aldermen accepted and awarded the bids to these two firms. The awards were subject to USDA approval. Irvinbilt Company, the second place bidder on the treatment facility upgrades was not happy with the bid of Lawhon Construction and filed a formal complaint with USDA.

Along with the bids, each contractor had included a list of vendors that they were planning on using. Lawhon had included a vendor for a piece of equipment that was not authorized by our engineering firm. When reviewing the documents, and before making the recommendation to the city, the engineers noticed the mistake and informed Lawhon that they had to use an approved vendor. Lawhon acknowledged the oversight and said they were prepared to use the authorized vendor. There was not language in the bid documents that disqualified the bid if an unapproved vendor was included.

The City has the right to waive what they deem as a “material defect” with regard to the bids. The fact of the matter is the unauthorized equipment in question is a $63,000 UV disinfection unit. The difference between the bid of Lawhon and Irvinbilt for that unit was less than $200. Because of this, the engineer recommended that we accept the bid of Lawhon. They felt like it was a material defect and the total bid of Lawhon was $14,000 lower than that of Irvinbilt.

Because there was a formal complaint filed, USDA initiated a review process. This is where the delay began. The Board of Aldermen, myself, the City’s attorney, and the engineer reviewed the bid documents. They all came to the same conclusion that the City stand behind its original decision. This decision was supported by the local USDA office in St. Joseph.

The supporting documents as well as opinion letters were forwarded to the USDA offices in Jefferson City. After a few weeks, USDA in Jefferson City came to the conclusion that the bid of Lawhon was invalid because of a technicality. That left the City with only one valid bid on the treatment facility upgrades, the bid of Irvinbilt. During Monday nights meeting the Board of Aldermen repealed the two resolutions accepting and awarding the contracts and replaced them with two new resolutions naming Sterling Excavation and Irvinbilt Company as the winning bidders.

I have delivered the updated documents to USDA for their final approval. They are planning on signing the construction contracts by the end of this week. After the signing, we will begin working with the Bond Council in order to secure the bond financing. This process normally takes 30 days to complete. During this time, the engineers will be working with the contractors in order to make sure everything is ready to roll on the start date.

USDA has tentatively chosen December 1st as the date for the bond closing meeting. At this meeting, we will sign all of the bond paperwork. The contractors will be given the green light at this time. I have spoken with the contractors and they are in a hurry to get started. I am looking forward to having backhoes digging all over town as quickly as possible.