Council awards First Street construction contract despite bid-estimate gap

The South Bend City Council on April 28 approved awarding the First Street construction contract to Advanced Excavation Specialists LLC of Kelso after staff recommended that firm as the lowest responsible bidder.

Staff announced an engineer's estimate of roughly $453,000 for the project and reported a low bid from Advanced Excavation Specialists of about $493,000. A council member pressed staff for details about line-item differences (lines 5, 8 and 20) and the apparent roughly $40,000 gap between the engineer's estimate and the low bid.

"They were the lowest responsible bidder and so ... we would recommend that project be awarded to Advanced Excavation Specialists," said a staff member recommending the contract award. A council member responding to the figures said, "I don't know. Um I mean that's a huge difference," while asking why some line items appeared far lower for the low bidder than in the estimate.

Staff said the engineer, identified in the packet as Gray/Graham Osborne, prepared the city estimate and that contractors submit bids based on what they believe they can complete the work for; the city does not typically walk through each bidder's line items at bid opening. The council carried the motion to award the contract.

The council did not record a roll-call vote in the public remarks; the meeting transcript states the motion carried. City staff said a follow-up conversation with the engineer or the low bidder could provide line-by-line explanations after the meeting.