ERIN – Council here has approved the replacement of an aging culvert for nearly half a million dollars.
On April 14 council directed staff to accept a $496,354 (including HST) bid for the Sideroad 24 culvert from South Shore Contracting.
The tender for the replacement of the culvert was posted electronically on the town’s website and closed on March 22.
Thirteen bids were received, ranging from the low bid from South Shore Contracting to $1.23 million from Trisan Construction.
The tenders were reviewed by staff and consultant,R.J. Burnside and Associates Limited.
Nick Colucci, director of infrastructure services, explained to council that South Shore Contracting has completed similar work for the town in the past.
“The low bidder also did work on Line 8, bridge 11 last year so they have worked with us before,” Colucci said.
“They did a good job so we’re proposing to award this to South Shore Contracting.”
In terms of the financial impact, the bid from South Shore Contracting is within the town’s capital budget of $600,000 including consulting fees. The remaining $100,000 budget will be utilized for consulting fees and contingencies.
“It remarkably came below budget,” councillor Rob Smith said. “That’s a good thing in these times.”
Councillor Michael Robins expressed concern about the range of bids received from contractors, questioning the low bidder’s ability to perform an adequate job.
“Are there any concerns about quality?” he asked. “How does one bid at $1.2 million, and the other one at $400,000 and still be able to do the same level of quality?”
Colucci responded “this typically happens in road and bridge projects where you get a large range because it depends on how busy the contractors are, sometimes they price higher.
“I think we’re satisfied that the contractor can do the work,” he added.
“I see this all the time on roads at the county where there’s huge price disparities sometimes between the high end and the low end,” Mayor Allan Alls added.
“Simply I think it’s because the high-end people, they figure if they get it, it’s jammed but they’re pretty busy, so they don’t need to work.”
