Conewago Valley SD CTE construction bids come in over Act 34 estimate; administration recommends selected alternates

At a June 2 facilities meeting, Conewago Valley School District officials told the board that bids for the career and technical education (CTE) building project came in above the Act 34 construction cost estimate and presented a set of recommended alternates to reduce the overage.

Paradis, a project presenter for the district, said the apparent low bids plus recommended alternates put the total project about 4.5 percent over the Act 34 estimate. “It is the bids plus the alternates are currently about 4 and a half percent over that Act 34 estimate,” Paradis said during the presentation.

The district compared the Act 34 construction cost estimate of $30,460,000 to the base bids submitted last week and found the base bid was about $2,620,000 higher than the Act 34 construction estimate (roughly an 8.5 percent increase). After administration-recommended add alternates (about $195,000) and recommended deduct alternates (about $356,000), staff reported an adjusted position that still left the project above the Act 34 construction estimate but reduced the gap. With recent testing and inspection proposal savings (approximately $740,000), the administration reported the total project cost as roughly $1,700,000 over the Act 34 project estimate — about 4.6 percent higher than the estimate.

Why it matters: Act 34 is the state review tied to school construction budgeting; projects that exceed certain thresholds may require additional board action or a second Act 34 review. District staff said they will analyze which alternates to accept and, if necessary, request further board action if the…