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Jones County awards $1.624 million road reconstruction contract; local-preference policy discussion planned
Summary
The Board awarded a $1,624,339.22 contract for reconstruction of six of ten roads in the LM24 project period to the lowest bidder and discussed adding a local-preference procurement policy to a future agenda.
Jones County commissioners voted Aug. 19 to award a construction contract of $1,624,339.22 for a 2024 road reconstruction package, accepting the lowest responsive bid and approving work on six of the 10 roads in the package.
A county presenter reported four bids were opened and evaluated on price; Block Construction submitted the low bid and was recommended for award. The project will fully rebuild six roads listed in the bid package, including Chippendale Drive and Homestead Drive, among others.
The county staff said the award is approximately $240,000 under the current project budget. Commissioners discussed whether the county should adopt a formal local-preference procurement policy to favor in-county firms. Several commissioners said they favor keeping public dollars local when the price differential is small; others cautioned that a formal preference would restrict competition and could raise costs on larger procurements.
One commissioner said the difference between the low bidder and a local bidder was about $40,000 on a $1.6 million contract and urged that the board add a local-preference discussion to a future agenda. County staff said an explicit local-preference policy would need to be drafted and applied consistently across procurements.
After discussion the board approved the award to Block Construction and directed staff to place a local-preference policy discussion on a subsequent agenda for further consideration.
