Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Procurement Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners delay award of Trumbull County adult probation remodeling after $20,000 bid gap
Summary
The Trumbull County Board of Commissioners removed a $75,267 remodeling contract for the Fourth Floor of the Stone Building from the agenda after questions about a roughly $20,000 difference between bids. County staff and the prosecutor—s office will review the bid specifications and exclusions before any award.
The Trumbull County Board of Commissioners moved consideration of a $75,267 contract to remodel the Fourth Floor of the Stone Building for the county adult probation department off this week—s agenda after commissioners and staff flagged a roughly $20,000 difference between the apparent low and second-low bids.
Commissioners raised the discrepancy during a discussion of the bid results. A representative for Don Incorporated said the company had submitted a quote after receiving the project description via a contact form and that the vendor did not identify any specific exclusions in its response. The county—s facilities staff said scope changes had occurred during project development, and the board—s legal adviser urged caution because the award sits near Ohio—s competitive-bidding threshold for 2025.
"This won't be awarded until we have our prosecutor's office look into it as well," a county representative said during the meeting, signaling the board's intent to delay an award pending legal review and scope clarification.
Prosecutor's office staff told commissioners that, legally, the county could proceed but that when procurements sit close to the statutory bidding threshold it is often preferable to solicit competitive bids or clarify specifications to reduce the risk of later change orders. Commissioners said they were concerned about potential change orders and wanted more documentation showing why the higher-priced bidder's quote justified the difference.
County staff and one bidder agreed to follow up: staff will ask Don Incorporated to submit a formal quote addressing any specification questions, and the prosecutor's office will review the procurement record before the board reconsiders the item. Commissioners instructed staff to have Daryl (facilities lead) coordinate the follow-up and return with clarified scope and any rebid recommendation.
The board said the remodeling item would be taken off the current agenda and returned after the review was complete. No final contract award was made at the meeting.
Background: The remodeling was billed to the Trumbull County adult probation fund and was described on the agenda as a project to remodel the Fourth Floor of the Stone Building, with Lewis Construction of Warren listed as a bidder at $75,267. The board discussed but did not adopt a formal resolution on the item during the meeting.
