When Oak Bluffs selectmen unanimously voted on Sept. 22 to accept a $5.25 million bid from MIG Corp. to rebuild the new North Bluff seawall, contingent on additional Community Preservation Committee funding, it appeared that the long-awaited project was finally moving ahead. However, due to a bid complaint from Northern Construction Service, Oak Bluffs selectmen, on the advice of the state attorney general’s office and town counsel Michael Goldsmith, called a special meeting to vote to rescind their decision, and to rebid the project.
Tuesday night selectmen held the special meeting, and voted unanimously to rescind acceptance of the previously winning bid and to rebid the project.
“A bid protest that goes to a hearing and possibly a lengthy appeal process can take a lot longer than a month,” town administrator Robert Whritenour said, endorsing the board’s vote.
At issue is the wording of the Request for Proposals (RFP) which asked for the bid to be broken into sections — the “base bid” was for construction of the steel sheet seawall and boardwalk from the harbor to the fishing pier, along with hazardous waste removal. Addendums to the bid were requested for the cost of continuing the wall and boardwalk to the SSA terminal. Northern Construction submitted the lowest bid for the entirety of the project, at $5.9 million.
However, all bids, including MIG’s, came in well over the $5.6 million the town had received in state grants for the project, once management fees and a 5 percent contingency fund was added to the bottom line. So a decision was made to begin with the most crucial part of the project, e.g. the base bid, where MIG Corp. came in lower than Northern Construction by $103,000.
Despite the monthlong delay a new bidding process will require, project manager David Lager told The Times in a recent interview that it would not significantly delay the project. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t still complete the project on the same timeline,” he said. The bulk of the project is due to be completed by Memorial Day, with a month allocated for punch list items, according to Mr. Lager.
Mr. Whritenour said the rebidding may actually benefit the town. “Maybe we’ll have more competition in the bidding process,” he said.
The town will be open for bids on the North Bluff restoration project on Oct. 22.
In other business Tuesday, selectmen unanimously approved the appointment of Allyson Malik, adult technology services coordinator at the Oak Bluffs Public Library, to interim library director. Ms. Malik will temporarily fill the gaping void left by departing library director Sondra Murphy. Ms. Murphy’s last day will be Oct. 16, the same day as the library’s 10th-anniversary party. Mr. Whritenour said he expects a high number of applicants for Ms. Murphy’s position. “We expect this to be a very active posting,” he said.