Vote delayed on final bids for new high school

Approval of the final bid package for the remodel of Whitefish High School has been delayed after further review of subcontractor bids became necessary.

The district’s consultant Bayard Dominick said he expects to ask the school board for approval of bid package No. 3 in about two weeks. The school board was set to vote on the bids last week.

“(General contractor) Langlas is reviewing the bids, but we’re not as yet ready to present a recommendation,” he said. “There are several areas where we are happy and we got competitive bids — like plumbing and electrical. However, there are scopes where we didn’t get multiple bidders. We want to be cautious about this.”

He said analysis will continue and a recommendation for approval for the bids will follow. Part of the review includes checking to ensure product substitutions in the bids by subcontractors meet standards, that the bids match with the architectural designs and that the subcontractors meet qualifications.

The construction team updated the school district’s budget and oversight committee on the project’s progress June 5 during a meeting at the high school.

Loren Cantrell with Langlas & Associates said a delay with a project the size of the high school is not unusual. He noted a large project in a smaller community like Whitefish can cause a fewer number of subcontractor bidders.

Delaying approval will also push back the start of construction on the third phase of the project, which is the bulk of the work. The third phase is expected to cost roughly $10.7 million as part of the entire $19 million redevelopment of the school.

“It certainly could have an impact,” Dominick said. “It could mean two weeks less for teachers to prepare in the new school or delaying the opening of the school. It might delay demolishing the old school.”

The new school is slated to open in August 2014. Following completion of the new building, a portion of the old high school will be torn down and turned into a parking lot.

“It’s more important to get the budget numbers right than to force the schedule,” Dominick said. “We need to make sure the bid scopes are right, and if they’re not we need to find a way to get competitive pricing on them.”

Trustee Dave Fern reiterated the importance of carefully checking the bids.

“The project has to be on budget — that’s the bottom line,” he said. “Things are still fluid right now. [The construction team] is looking at the scope, materials and cost. They are right in the middle of that.”

In the meantime, work will continue on the second phase of construction. The sitework and much of the concrete, plumbing and electrical work are complete. Placing of structural steel continues into next month.

Bid package No. 2 was approved in April and came in at about $300,000 more than estimates. At the time, the school board chose to move forward, even with estimates showing the whole project with an overage of about $450,000. The board felt delaying further could negatively impact the budget. They approved a contingency plan to make up the difference if savings can’t be found in bid package No. 3.

“We have four or five options we may look at,” Fern noted. “We’re still there, but there’s some things we can do if we need to.”

The soil conditions of the site contributed to the increase in costs for the second bid package.

Dow Powell, who is overseeing the construction as the district’s representative, said the soils in east Whitefish, which include a large amount of clay, make constructing a building the size of the school challenging.

“We dug down two to five feet to the clay layer and placed all new material — different sizes of fill for stability,” he said. “Clay is wet and it moves around. The geotechnical work designed the building to be on top of that clay. This is quite the structure and once it’s here it’s not going anywhere.”

Approval of the second package was also delayed, which caused the start of construction to be push back. That delay has all but been made up as projects have moved faster than anticipated, according to the district.

“I think we’re in good shape (for the timeline),” Powell said. “We’ve made up a week and we’re close to the original schedule.”

Construction work on the gymnasium continues to be on schedule. A new weight room and mezzanine level have been installed in the gym. The new floor has been laid and sealed and new bleachers should be installed soon. The gym project is on target to be completed by the end of the month, Powell said.