County commissioners opened a single bid July 22 for a project to extend the courthouse fire-sprinkler system into the county jail, and agreed to review the submission before deciding whether to award the work. The lone bid, submitted by Mahoney Fire & Sprinkler of Omaha, totaled $347,700.
The project is to extend the existing sprinkler system from the courthouse into the jail and to install equipment that meets the plans, specifications and state and local code requirements. Steve Severson, the project architect, said a mandatory pre-bid meeting had only one contractor in attendance and that one other contractor contacted the project team but missed the mandatory meeting and therefore was disqualified from bidding.
Severson told commissioners the attending firm appeared knowledgeable and had relevant correctional-facility experience. He warned that the work is specialized: “virus suppression is a specialty in and of itself, and then doing that work within a correctional facility … is not common.” He also said the contractor had to account for uncertainty in scheduling and working around jail operations and court calendars. The board opened Mahoney’s lump-sum bid at the meeting and recorded the amount at $347,700.
Commissioners discussed options. Several said the county could accept and proceed if the bid and references checked out; they also noted the option to reject the bid and rebid to seek more competition, but recognized rebidding would expose the vendor’s price and might discourage bidders. Severson and others said the county would inspect the bid documents, addendums and the contractor’s qualifications and return to the commission later with a recommendation.
No contract award was made at the July 22 meeting. The board agreed to have staff and the architect review the bid, check references and return with a recommendation — either to move forward with Mahoney Fire & Sprinkler or to reject and rebid if the single bid appears uncompetitive.
The next steps: county staff will review the submission with the architect and, if needed, the county will either reject the bid and rebid or recommend award at a later meeting after due diligence. The commission noted they could reconvene later the same day as their agenda permitted if they were comfortable with a recommendation but otherwise would act in a subsequent session.