Skagit County opens sealed bids for parks marine project; apparent low bidder missing documents

Skagit County Parks and Recreation staff opened sealed bids at 12:01 p.m. for a marine-related parks contract and found the apparent low bidder missing required paperwork, staff said. Joseph Shea, the county’s operations and lands manager, said Watersmith Construction of Tumwater submitted the lowest numerical bid but that some pages and an acknowledged addendum were missing from its envelope.

County staff said the next-lowest bids were from Marine Floats of Tacoma at about $368,337, Bellingham Marine Industries at $430,000, and McLuhan’s Sons at $439,727. Staff confirmed bid bonds, non-collusion statements and disbarment certifications were included with the Marine Floats, Bellingham Marine and McLuhan packages; Watersmith’s submission lacked some signed pages and an addendum acknowledgment on first inspection.

In explaining next steps, Joseph Shea said staff would perform due diligence on the apparent low bidder’s submission and, if Watersmith’s packet does not meet the solicitation’s documentation requirements, staff would proceed to evaluate Marine Floats and the other complete bids. "The apparent low bidder, we're going to need to do some more due diligence on," Shea said during the opening. He noted Marine Floats’ price was close to the engineer’s estimate.

The county did not award a contract during the bid opening. Staff said they will review the proposals and follow the county’s procurement procedures before returning a recommendation to the Skagit County Commissioners. No funding sources, contract term details, or award date were specified during the opening.

The bid opening included a brief review of each envelope for required signed pages, notarized proposals, bid bonds and addendum acknowledgments; staff recorded which packets contained the required forms. County staff thanked the bidders and said results and bid documents would be posted on the county website after review.