Elbert County to seek outside consultant after wide bid discrepancies on sheriff's evidence building

Elbert County commissioners on Jan. 7 discussed large inconsistencies among bids for a planned sheriff's office evidence building and agreed to explore outside help to rewrite the solicitation and potentially rebid the project.

Chris Swain, facilities staff member standing in for facilities manager Maddie Bond, opened the discussion by summarizing the county's bid process for the evidence building and asking the board to consider next steps. A county official who participated throughout the meeting and who was addressed in the session as the sheriff reported that the county had received seven bids and that one was disqualified for failing to follow finance policies. “We got a total of 7 bids. 1 was disqualified, for not following the finance policies,” the sheriff said.

The sheriff and facilities staff both told commissioners that several line items showed extremely wide price ranges among bidders, which undercut confidence in the current solicitation. The sheriff gave examples: costs for four overhead doors ranged from about $26,000 to $150,000; electrical quotes varied by several hundred thousand dollars; fire suppression bids ranged from roughly $36,000 to $150,000; and design and engineering…