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Construction bids for the Luverne school building project came in higher than engineer’s estimates and no bids were submitted for the electrical work.
Now district officials are seeking a second round of bids, which will be opened Aug. 16 — about the time they had hoped to break ground on the $31 million project.
The facility improvement plans are divided into four project areas or scopes: general construction, fire protection, mechanical and electrical.
Thirteen bids were received for the first opening on July 24.
Three companies submitted bids for general construction, five for fire protection, five for mechanical, and no bids for electrical, according to Joel Bohnhoft, construction manager with ISC.
“We are maintaining the low bids for the three work scopes and reissuing the fourth work scope (electrical) for the low bidder,” he said.
At the pre-bid meeting conducted earlier this month, Bohnhoft said the electrical portion of the project had five to six companies interested in submitting bids and completing the work.
Bohnhoft said some companies did not submit a bid due to not receiving prices on some key equipment components.
Rather than guessing at a price, companies decided not to submit a bid.
The lack of electric bids caused Luverne School Board members to postpone awarding contracts at their Thursday evening, July 26, meeting.
Contract awards will be completed after the electrical bids are received.
Meanwhile, engineers will examine the current low bids, which combined are $2.1 million over estimates.
“We are a little over budget and we are looking at things to budget out,” Bohnhoft said.
He was unsure what caused bid estimates to be exceeded but stated being over budget “is not uncommon in the industry.”
School Board officials will determine the final reduction amounts and award contracts to the low bidders at a future meeting.
Until the board acts, Superintendent Craig Oftedahl said ground-breaking will not take place in mid-August as intended.
The project may be delayed by as much as 30 days.
“It depends on how fast they can mobilize equipment,” he said.