Polk County staff recommend notice of intent to award striping contract after single bid

Polk County public works staff told the commissioners on May 5 that Specialized Pavement Markings (listed in the transcript as SPM) submitted the only bid for the county's annual striping contract and recommended issuing a notice of intent to award.

A county public works staff member said Schedule A (the county's primary waterborne paint option) was bid at $372,409.40 and Schedule B (a high-build option) at $102,212.90, for a combined total of $474,622.30. "We are prepared to issue notice of intent to award that bid," the staff member said.

Committee members asked how those figures compare with the budget. The staff member said the amount is very close to last year's expenditure and that staff typically budgets about 5% more than the prior year; the exact budget line was not read into the record. One committee member raised a long-term concern: "My concern long-term is that these may start going up," noting that only one bid was received. The staff member acknowledged it is unusual to receive a single bid and said other nearby municipalities are seeing more competition in recent procurements.

Staff explained the two bid schedules: Schedule A uses waterborne paint (the county switched to waterborne in recent years), and Schedule B is a high-build product the county includes as an option. The county also upgraded the glass beads added to wet paint in recent years to improve retroreflectivity. The staff member said Schedule A is the primary product and Schedule B is optional depending on needs.

At the meeting the staff said no formal board action was required at that time but requested the board's concurrence to notify the bidder and proceed with a notice of intent. The transcript records no formal recorded vote on the striping award during the session.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the notice to the bidder pending routine concurrence; no additional timeline for contract execution was provided in the transcript.