Codington County voters to advertise first bid package for new jail; commissioners authorize solicitation

The Codington County Commissioners voted Tuesday to advertise Bid Package No. 1 for the county’s new jail, authorizing the release of civil, structural and exterior-envelope construction documents to the construction manager at risk so subcontractor bids can be solicited.

Commissioner Gable, who made the motion, said the work is intended "to get the part of the jail done before the snow flies, basically, the exterior, the groundwork and the exterior stuff so we can continue working through the winter." The motion was seconded by Commissioner Johnson and carried on a voice vote.

Architect Andrew Eitram of Architecture Incorporated told commissioners the county is releasing documents for the civil engineering and structural engineering components and the building’s exterior envelope — "the exterior walls and windows, doors, the roof membrane, etcetera," — and that those documents would be issued to the construction manager, Beckenhauer, later in the week for bidding. "We would be getting back actual hard bid results for those various scopes of the work," Eitram said.

Strasburg, a project representative with TEGRA, described the delivery method to the board: "Under South Dakota law, this is construction manager at risk." He said Beckenhauer will receive the bids, check for missing or overlapping scope, and recommend subcontractors to the county, a review he said typically takes about a week. Strasburg added that the CMAR approach allows the construction manager flexibility to recommend an alternative contractor if the apparent low bidder is judged unqualified.

Commissioners asked process questions: bids will be due July 3 and will be submitted to Beckenhauer rather than opened publicly. Strasburg said the bids are public information but are not legally required to be opened at a public meeting; Beckenhauer will share results and recommendations with the county once its review is complete.

The county will compare the returned hard bids with prior cost estimates to inform next decisions on the project, commissioners and project staff said.

Next steps: the construction documents will be released to Beckenhauer later in the week, bids will be accepted through July 3, and Beckenhauer will review and return subcontractor recommendations to the county for follow-up procurement decisions.