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Board rejects over-budget bids for Village Hall technology package, directs rebid
Summary
Trustees rejected two over-budget bids for the new Village Hall and police department technology package (audio-visual, security, access control), citing scope creep and underestimated allowances, and directed staff to form a small review team to refine scope and rebid, aiming for a late July/early August opening.
Trustees for the Village of Cross Plains voted June 22 to reject two bids for the technology package for the new Village Hall and police department after staff said the low bid exceeded the budget by a substantial margin.
Village Administrator Carly and project engineer Matt Bickel told the board that only two bids were received and both were “significantly over budget.” Bickel identified the low bidder as Integral Building Systems at $413,008.93 and said items added during final scoping—card readers, additional security cameras and relocation of an existing radio/antenna—contributed to the higher-than-expected total. “We were carrying a $40,000 tech allowance, and that clearly understated the package,” Bickel said, adding that a realistic estimate would have been in the $350,000–$385,000 range before scope changes.
Trustees pressed for detail on where the dollars were going. One trustee asked whether most of the cost was on the AV side or security; Bickel said costs were “pretty evenly split” but that security (servers, hard drives and camera systems) was likely the larger portion. Chief Tony and others warned that splitting the procurement into separate AV and security contracts would increase the number of vendors to manage and could lead to integration problems, but several trustees and the chief supported creating a small review group to pare back components room by room.
After discussion, Trustee Joe moved and Trustee Cameron seconded a motion to reject the bids and rebid with a revised scope; the motion passed unanimously. Trustees directed staff to convene a focused team—including the police chief, a village technology representative and design staff—to identify value-engineering opportunities and to consider separating AV and security work to attract more bidders. Staff and Bickel said they would aim to issue a revised bid package within weeks and target a late July or early August bid opening to stay on the construction timeline.
The board did not approve any contract or award; the current action was limited to rejecting the submitted bids and directing staff to return with a revised procurement plan.
