Clay County commissioners authorize negotiation with Lloyd Construction on courthouse, safety-center work
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Summary
After scoring and price review, the Clay County Commission voted to move forward with negotiations with Lloyd Construction on renovations to the courthouse and a safety center, with commissioners directing staff to seek scope and cost reductions before final contract.
Clay County commissioners voted to proceed with negotiations with Lloyd Construction on a design-build renovation of the county courthouse and the proposed safety center, after the county's selection process ranked Lloyd as the recommended firm based on a combined score-price metric.
County staff told commissioners the procurement process produced two responsive proposals and that the selection method — a qualitative score combined with price — produced a lower cost-per-point for Lloyd. "Everything was handed into Carrie. She did all the math, totaled everything up, came up with their scores for these three areas, and came up with their average score," a county staff member explained during the presentation.
The vote followed an earlier briefing that described the county's design-build procurement procedures (adopted by the commission in March) and outlined the county's options under that policy: negotiate scope with the selected firm or reject all proposals. Commissioners also discussed breaking the overall work into smaller pieces, postponing some items or re-scoping finishes to reduce cost.
According to figures presented at the meeting, Lloyd's price for the courthouse portion was read aloud as $405,348 and its price for the safety center was read as $780,006.93. Staff said L and L Builders submitted higher prices for both scopes (the transcript records a higher courthouse price read in the meeting and a safety-center price of about $1.6 million). County staff cautioned that the total project as proposed exceeded the county's available budget and explained that portions above the courthouse security grant threshold would be a county obligation.
Commissioners discussed options to trim scope and to negotiate clarifications of design criteria and work scope with the recommended firm prior to contract award. The county's adopted procedures for design-build procurement state that at the time of award the county "may negotiate changes clarifying the design criteria and scope of work," and that the county reserves the right to reject all proposals.
The commission moved the item to executive session to consult legal counsel on contractual matters and returned to public session. After executive session, a commissioner moved and the body approved a motion "to move forward with the proposal for Lloyd's RFB bid." The motion passed with all commissioners voting in favor.
Next steps described by staff included negotiating the scope and price, identifying scope items the county could delay or remove to fit budgetary constraints, and presenting revised contract terms for final approval. Staff also noted the county may seek to limit the initial contract to discrete work (for example, courtroom work) if negotiations cannot produce an acceptable total price.
Commissioners did not adopt a final construction contract at the meeting; they authorized continued negotiation with Lloyd Construction under the county's procurement policy.
