SNOW HILL – Development of a list of qualified bidders could allow much needed housing rehabilitation projects to move forward faster.
The Worcester County Commissioners on Wednesday voted unanimously to move forward with plans to create a list of qualified bidders for Worcester County Housing Rehabilitation Program projects.
“Right now it’s difficult to find people to bid on these projects,” Commissioner Chip Bertino said. “If we have a stable of contractors we can go to, we can get contractors working on these projects quicker.”
The Worcester County Housing Rehabilitation Program is administered through the Worcester County Department of Development, Review and Permitting and provides grant and loan funding to owner-occupied properties for general rehabilitation and lead abatement services.
Nicholas Rice, the county’s procurement officer, told the commissioners this week he was presenting Request for Qualification (RFQ) documents for housing rehabilitation contractors. He explained that currently, the county sends all renovation projects out for bid on an individual basis. Three bids are required by the state for each project.
“Historically we’ve had little to no success in getting three bidders on these projects,” Rice said. “The state requires three. In the past we’ve been able to apply for waivers if we don’t receive three. The state has indicated they will no longer provide us with a waiver.”
As an alternative, Rice proposed issuing a Request for Qualifications to establish a pool of qualified contractors for all Community Development Block Grant projects.
“This is another way of going through the bidding process,” he said. “We would do a Request for Qualifications to set up a qualified contractor list. That satisfies the formal bidding process and then we can contact those contractors individually for individual projects.”
According to Rice, the new procedure is also expected to reduce advertising costs, as contracts will be directly solicited from the list of qualified contractors and will reduce the amount of time homeowners are waiting for repairs as the county re-bids the project.
He noted that individual contracts exceeding $25,000 would still be sent to the commissioners for their approval.
The RFQ will seek Maryland licensed contractors capable of dealing with general rehabilitation, lead abatement, HVAC installers, well installers and septic installers. Proposals will be due later this month and will be received by both the county’s housing program coordinator and the commissioners.
The commissioners voted 7-0 to move forward with developing the list of qualified bidders. Local contractors, who are hired through the housing rehabilitation program to do jobs like roof replacement, door replacement and insulation, among others, say they expect the new practice to streamline the repair process for homeowners, making the turnaround from approval to completely date much faster.
The Worcester County Housing Rehabilitation Program was created in 1987 to provide low to moderate income homeowners with the means to rehabilitate their substandard housing structures throughout the county, according to the county’s RFQ. The program is designed to give priority consideration to disabled, extremely low income and/or county residents over 62 years old as well as to those structures posing health or safety hazards. The Housing Rehabilitation Program is primarily funded by Community Development Block Grant monies, the State Special Loans Program.