County staff to recommend awarding low bids for law enforcement center after favorable bid opening

Hubbard County staff and project managers said bids opened favorably last week for the county’s Law Enforcement Center and that they will qualify apparent low bidders and deliver a bid recommendation to county staff for approval next week.

Justin, an ICS representative who presented the bid tabulation, told the board that the project received broad contractor interest across scopes including earthwork, concrete, precast, steel, masonry, roofing, glazing, mechanical and electrical. "Bids opened successfully," he said, adding the tabulation showed multiple bidders in most scopes and several tight contests for low price. "We're pretty happy with those results," Justin said.

The presentation listed apparent low bidders by work scope: Hobbs Excavating for earthwork and utilities; Crete and Company for placed structural concrete; Terracon for precast; Red Cedar for structural steel; Johnson Nelson for masonry; Thielen Roofing for roofing; Anderson Glass & Glazing for doors and windows; Dow Acoustics for acoustical ceilings (noting Dow missed a security-ceiling line item); Summit Fire Protection for fire suppression; Masters for mechanical; and Bergstrom for electrical. The presenter said Dow’s bid omitted security ceiling work worth about $290,000 and that ICS and staff identified the omission during review.

Project staff summarized budget positions and schedules. They reported a post-design estimate of $10,475,000; the average of the received bids across scopes produced roughly $10,120,000; and the apparent-unofficial low total—excluding the omitted secure-ceiling line—was $8,593,237. When the $290,000 omitted secure-ceiling cost is added, staff said the low bids align closely with the county’s construction contingency and placed the project within the planned budget envelope. The presentation also showed a worst-case construction estimate of $9,933,000 and an overall project worst-case cost including soft costs of $12,000,991.

Schedule and next steps presented to the board called for continuing bid qualification this week, a bid-recommendation letter to county staff (to Jeff) by the end of the week, and board authorization of central contracts next week. The presenters said contractors were contractually obligated to the project schedule included in the bidding documents and that ICS expects to complete qualifying checks by the end of the week.

Board members asked about contractor locations and capacity; the presenters said most firms were local to the region (locations cited included Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, Alexandria and Elk River). Commissioners also discussed concurrent ICS work at area schools; ICS said it expects to staff both projects.

Budget and financing matters were addressed in general terms. County staff said Ehlers (financial advisor) will participate virtually next week and that the county in the fall previously authorized up to $3 million in general-obligation borrowing as a funding option; staff said lower-than-expected bid results give flexibility on the exact borrowing amount. Staff also said they will return with a recommendation about using any savings for modest office renovations within the law enforcement/corrections area.

The board did not take formal action on awards at this meeting; staff said they will present recommended contract awards and the financing plan for board action at the next meeting.

Ending: Project oversight meetings will continue weekly, staff will finalize bidder qualification, and construction manager and county staff will finalize relocation and occupancy sequencing ahead of construction.