Nine bids for Coffee County health department; apparent low bidder Boyce Ballard at $3,448,000

Coffee County project staff told the Capital Outlay Committee that nine bids were opened for the county health-department building and that the apparent low bidder submitted a $3,448,000 offer. The committee held no final award and instructed staff to await the county attorney’s formal review of questions about a small number of bids.

Scott St. John, who presented the bid tabulation, said apparent low bidder Boyce Ballard submitted the lowest price on the project at $3,448,000. Scott said the bids “came in at a good price per square foot” for an approximately 11,000-square-foot building and that the county had a “pretty good bid list” with a close grouping of prices.

Project staff described ongoing site work completed under a separate contract (phase 1) and said contractors have been hauling gravel and pulling utilities to get the pad ready for turnover to a general contractor. Scott said the contractor that completed the phase‑1 site work had capped the building pad and that the condition will save time for construction.

Several contractors in the room said they faced confusion during bid submission: two contractors said they arrived at the location listed in the bid documents (Suite 5) but were later told bids were being opened in Conference Room 1. One contractor identified himself as David Hite and said he and another bidder followed the bid-document location and were redirected; another named Lee Adcock was mentioned as also arriving at the original address. The committee said the county attorney will review whether those late or redirected bids should be considered.

Committee members said that if the county attorney clears the low bidder, the committee will forward the recommended award to the full commission; otherwise the attorney could direct rejection of an award or require a full rebid. No formal award was made at the meeting.