Modern Builders emerges as apparent low bidder in Knox County business-center bid opening

At the Knox County commissioners session on Feb. 3, county staff publicly opened the sealed bids for the county business-center project and identified Modern Builders as the apparent low bidder.

An official identified in the transcript as Speaker 1 told the meeting the project was advertised at $2,500,000 and that a 20% threshold allows the county to accept bids up to $3,000,000. Speaker 2 then read the bid amounts aloud; the transcript records Modern Builders’ bid as $2,574,550, which Speaker 1 and others identified as the low bid.

Other bids read into the record included a Dana Corporation bid that was read and corrected during the reading to $2,781,000, Schrock at $2,967,000, and EECS (ECS) Builders at $2,694,496. Speaker 1 said the county will have staff (identified in the record as Josh) review the low bidder’s documentation for completeness and compliance, and that the next bidder in line would be considered if issues arise with the low bidder’s paperwork.

Speaker 2 said project paperwork review is standard procedure and that the county plans to proceed only after verification. Meeting participants also noted the range of bids was competitive and roughly within 10% of one another.

The county also discussed schedule expectations: according to the transcript, staff indicated they hope to have the project completed by May, contingent on the award and normal contracting processes.

Next steps are administrative: county staff will verify Modern Builders’ submission for compliance with bid requirements and then notify the apparent winner; no contract award was finalized on the record at the meeting.