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Danbury board accepts low‑bid withdrawal for Franklin Street bridge, awards corrected bid to Earth Movers and orders FAA‑mandated rebid for airport regulators
Summary
The Danbury City Board of Awards accepted a withdrawal from apparent low bidder NJR Construction for the Franklin Street bridge because of pricing errors, approved an award to Earth Movers after a corrected bid total, and agreed to reject and rebid airport regulator bids after the FAA identified a technical‑specification error. All motions carried at the Feb. 5 meeting, some contingent on state approval.
Chip Volk, Danbury’s purchasing agent, called the Board of Awards to order on Feb. 5 and reported seven bids for the rebid of bridge No. 034021 (Franklin Street extension over Mercers Pond). He said NJR Construction submitted the apparent low bid of $1,827,643 but, in a memo dated Jan. 29, 2025, Nicholas Mancini Jr. of NJR "requested that his bid be withdrawn without prejudice and his bid bond returned," citing significant pricing errors.
A board member moved to accept NJR’s withdrawal and return the bid bond; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously. "We had received an email ... he indicated that he reviewed his bid totals ... and they detected that there were some significant pricing errors," Chip Volk said when introducing the withdrawal request.
Separately, Chip Volk reported that Earth Movers Inc. initially submitted $2,721,189.50 but that a post‑opening review revealed arithmetic errors that corrected the total to $2,537,112. Ed Killian of Earth Movers acknowledged the corrected summation in a Jan. 23, 2025 letter, Volk said. Antonio Iadorola, the city’s director of public works, stated he had spoken with the company and moved to award the contract to Earth Movers "conditioned on" approval from the Connecticut Department of Transportation; the board approved the award unanimously.
On airport work, Volk said five bids were received to upgrade regulators in the vault at Danbury Municipal Airport and that AM Rizzo Electrical was the apparent low bidder at $142,290. Airport Administrator Mike Sofranik informed the board that the Federal Aviation Administration had reviewed the solicitation and discovered an error in the technical specification, and the FAA was requiring the city to reject the bids, correct the wording and rebid the project. Sofranik moved to reject and rebid; the board approved the recommendation unanimously.
What happens next: the Earth Movers award is subject to Connecticut DOT approval as noted by the board; the airport regulator project will be revised and reissued following FAA guidance. The board moved through the remainder of its agenda after these actions.
