School Project Bids Come In Under Estimate

OCEAN CITY – The bid awards for the construction of Pocomoke High School were presented last week, revealing that the project is $2.1 million below the original project estimate.

Facilities Planner Joe Price came before the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools at last Tuesday’s meeting to present officials with an update on the construction bids for the renovations and additions to Pocomoke High School.

A project bid opening for the construction of the project began on Nov. 11. Bids were received in all areas except for demolition and grandstands and bleachers. Those were both re-bid on Dec. 10 and are now included in the final report.

Price reported that the final bid phase was successful, bringing in 75 bids and 25 bid packages, which is nearly twice the amount of bids received for the Worcester Technical High School project.

Price attributed the success of the bidding to two factors, the Board of Education’s decision to delay the bidding phase from July 2007 until November 2007, and the efforts made to advertise the bidding.

“It’s great that we’ve had this many bidders, it’s made it competitive and we really appreciate that we’ve come in under our original estimate,” Price said.

As a result of the contractor interest shown in the project, the project is approximately $2.1 million below the project estimate established in October 2006, a number that the Board of Education was more than pleased with.

“The County Commissioners should be very happy, they asked us to come in under and we did,” said Board member Sara Thompson.

The 125,000-square-foot project has been a concern among the County Commissioners in the past, with concerns over funding for the project.

“We’ve not cut any corners, we’ve really done a first class job here for the community of Pocomoke … we’re proud of moving forward with this and I hope we get the support to do so,” said Board President Garry Mumford.

The board voted unanimously to accept the bids and to forward them to the County Commissioners for final review.