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Committee opens bids for $861,000 LSA grant to stabilize Janney Farmstead
Summary
Lower Makefield Township’s implementation committee said an $861,000 LSA grant will fund stabilization and adaptive‑reuse work at the Janney Farmstead; three design proposals were opened June 11 and township staff will "level" submissions for fair comparison before the committee provides input.
Lower Makefield Township’s Patterson Farm implementation committee said June 11 that an $861,000 Local Share Account (LSA) grant will be used to stabilize and develop adaptive reuse options for the Janney Farmstead. The committee confirmed that an RFP sent to 19 firms produced three proposals that were opened at the meeting.
The committee’s secretary, Fred Childs, told members the township distributed the RFP on May 14, held a mandatory pre‑proposal site walk on May 27 and received proposals on June 11. "The proposals were just opened today," Childs said, adding that five firms attended the site visit.
Why it matters: the LSA grant money will fund initial design and stabilization work for buildings on the Janney (Patterson Farm) side of the property, which committee members said is necessary to protect historic fabric while planning longer‑term rehabilitation.
Committee members noted a wide price range among the three proposals. "The lowest one was 99,000, and the highest one was rounding off to about 250,000," one member said, cautioning that price differences may reflect differing scopes and deliverables.
Jennifer Stark, a committee member, explained how proposals are compared: "What you do is you take all of the components of these professional services and you put them in a spreadsheet and then you look at every proposal and you plug in what each respondent says. It’s a great way to get a snapshot and compare proposals." She and other members said the township will perform a leveling process so proposals can be compared fairly.
The committee emphasized procurement rules for construction: while construction contracts are subject to public bidding and prevailing‑wage rules, selection of a design professional will consider experience, qualifications, proposal quality and cost rather than automatically going to the lowest bidder.
Next steps: township staff will complete the leveling for fair comparison and share results with the committee; committee members said they will review the leveled proposals and provide formal comments to the township. The committee recorded this as an official assignment to follow up with township manager David Kratzer.
The meeting did not finalize a design‑team selection; members agreed to await the leveled evaluations before making a recommendation to the township.
