Plum Borough board advances O'Block construction bids after competitive fall round; projected cost falls about $2M below estimate

Administrators told the Plum Borough School District Board on Tuesday that the O'Block addition and alteration project drew strong competition and that award scenarios now fit under earlier cost estimates.

Consultants and staff described a competitive fall bid process that produced roughly 26 interested contractors and a set of close, low bids. Staff said they applied standard procurement safeguards — vendor qualifications, noncollusion affidavits and bid bonds — and recommended awarding the lowest qualified bidders for the base bid plus selected alternates. The presentation explained several alternates and deducts (for example, ceiling or acoustical clouds and operable partitions) that reduced scope and saved costs.

"This is something that should be celebrated," a district leader said, noting that redesign, value engineering and competitive timing helped bring the project under the initial budget estimate.

Key figures and schedule: Administration said the original estimate for the project was about $21.06 million and the award scenario under consideration totals about $19.06 million — a reduction of about $2 million. Staff noted there are additional soft costs and remaining items (furniture, site work, playground at roughly $500,000, and other soft costs) that will be tracked separately; staff estimated roughly $6 million in other identified costs that remain to be finalized in a consolidated budget. A preconstruction meeting was scheduled, and staff indicated contractors hoped to be on site in early November.

Board questions focused on budget remaining for the middle-school program and parity concerns across schools (playground sizing and surfacing differences were raised). Consultants said some alternates were accepted to balance cost and long-term maintenance, and administration said it will provide a revised consolidated budget when alternates and furniture are finalized.

What the board approved or advanced: The board indicated it had the support to move several award scenarios (items A1–A5 under the agenda) forward for formal action. Staff thanked the construction team and the firms that assisted with bidding and recommended next steps for contract awards.

Next steps: Staff will return a consolidated budget update with final soft costs and furniture numbers and will bring the recommended contract awards to the board for formal approval at a subsequent meeting.