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Town manager asks council to raise Beals Road bridge article after bid clerical error; council moves amended article to deliberative session
Summary
Town public-works officials told the council a clerical error in the low bid for the Beals Road bridge replacement could force award to the second-lowest bidder; the council moved a revised, higher not-to-exceed article amount to the deliberative session (7–0).
The Bedford Town Council heard a late update from Public Works Director Jeff Foote about bids opened for the Beals Road bridge replacement and the related Greenfield Parkway project. Foote reported a clerical error in the apparent low bidder’s submitted pricing that may prompt the Federal Highway Administration and the state to require the town to award to the next-lowest qualified bidder. That change would raise the project’s federal contract cost; Foote recommended increasing the warrant article to $3,000,000 as a precautionary accounting measure.
Foote told the council the Beals Road and Greenfield Parkway projects are funded with federal highway/municipal funds and that, under current circumstances, the town’s local-tax obligation would not increase. He said the town would be refunded most of any preliminary costs it advanced; however, selecting the second-lowest qualified bidder could increase the total federal contract amount by an estimated $317,584.60 (staff calculation presented at the meeting). Foote said the town would work with New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Highway Administration to seek resolution and that the $3,000,000 figure is a worst-case, accounting-level request for the warrant.
Council action: On a motion to move Article 9 (Beals Road bridge replacement) to the deliberative session as presented (with the amended not-to-exceed amount discussed by staff), the council voted 7–0 to place the article before voters.
What happens next: Staff said DOT and federal reviewers will determine whether the apparent low bidder can be accepted or whether the second-lowest bidder must be used. The council and staff said the adopted approach—authorizing up to $3,000,000—preserves the project schedule and ensures the town’s authorization covers the higher of the likely outcomes without local tax impact because the project is federally funded.
