City Hall contract goes to the low bidder against staff recommendations

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Backed into a corner by higher than expected construction bids for a new City Hall, Key West City Commissioners went against staff recommendations Tuesday, Nov. 18, and awarded the $15 million contract to the lowest bidder.

Clearly frustrated over construction bids that came in $1.8 million higher than predicted by project architect Bert Bender, commissioners came close to throwing out all three bids and starting over. But warned by Bender and City Manager Jim Scholl that it would take at least six months or longer to redesign the project, solicit bids and hear back from contractors, Commissioner Mark Rossi convinced his colleagues to award the contract to low bidder Burke Construction Group, which came in at $14,997,500.

That bid was $240,000 lower than the bid recommended by planning and engineering staff submitted by Biltmore Construction. Although Burke Construction was rated the lowest of the three contractors who bid on the project, which will retrofit the new City Hall into the former Glynn Archer Elementary School building on White Street, commissioners decided that price was the overriding consideration.

“We’re sitting here discussing three really lousy bids,” said City Commissioner Teri Johnston. “We’re being held hostage here.”

Rossi’s first motion to hire Burke was defeated, with Mayor Craig Cates casting the tie-breaking vote against the low bidder. But after Scholl pointed out that rebidding the project would have its own costs, including another six months of rent at the temporary city hall offices at Habana Plaza – costing approximately $225,000 – commissioners voted a second time to hire Burke Construction. Only Johnston and Commissioner Tony Yaniz voted against Burke again.

“I feel like the emperor and his new clothes and we’re walking around naked. We were told we were on budget and now we’re $1.8 million over,” Yaniz complained.

Bender and his architecture staff had assured commissioners repeatedly that the project bids would come in at or lower than his estimate of $15.5 million. Bender blamed the high bids on rising prices that occurred between his estimate and when the Requests for Proposals went out. He said contractors are so busy that builders in the Miami area wouldn’t even bid on the project, which helped push costs higher.

“We can [still] do it on budget. But you won’t get everything on your wish list,” Bender told commissioners at the Nov. 18 meeting, saying that cutting back on some of the design features could possibly lower construction costs.

But City Attorney Shawn Smith warned that the city could not award the contract and then change the construction specifications without allowing all three contractors to resubmit their bids.

“Costs went up,” said Scholl. “It’s just a fact of life.”

Commissioner Billy Wardlow earlier in the evening brought up another concern over hiring Biltmore Construction. He pointed out that Biltmore was part of Bert Bender’s team when the initial design and cost estimates were made. That early work may have given Biltmore an unfair advantage when it worked up its bid, Wardlow said.

“It’s not a good precedent,” he said about awarding the bid to a company that, at least in appearance, may have had an inside track. “I don’t think it’s fair to the public or the other contractors,” Wardlow said.

But Bender and City Planner Don Craig, who was part of the bid evaluation team and recommended hiring Biltmore, both said Biltmore did not have an unfair advantage.

“Biltmore far outranked the others by far, even the lowest bidder. In my estimation, it was a fair process,” Craig said.

 

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