WESTFIELD – The Purchasing Department will conduct a pre-construction meeting to give general contractors and subcontractors information about the Council on Aging senior center project.
City Purchaser Tammy Tefft said this morning that the pre-bid conference is an information session with details of both the proposed building provided by the design team, and the bid process provided by the Purchasing Department. The project was advertised on April 2, 2014.
“It’s not mandatory, but they can hear details about the project,” Tefft said. “It’s also to be seen and to see who else may be interested in the project. It gives then an idea of the construction start and timeline”
Tefft said the subcontractors are required to submit their bids next week and those bids are then sent to the general contractors.
“There are a number of sub-trades, such as electrical, roofing HVAC, that will submit their bides for their specific scope of work,” Tefft said. “Those subcontractor bids are then sent to the general contractors to be included as part of the bid for the entire project.
“The general contractor picks the subs, it’s up to them which vendor they pick,” Tefft said. “Usually they pick the lowest bidder, but not always if they have a relationship with a specific sub.”
Tefft said the general contract bids for the 20,000-square-foot building project, as well as site preparation, are due on May 7, 2014. The city hopes to begin the construction work this summer with a projected opening of the new facility in the early fall of 2015.
City officials are hoping that the project bids will come within the $7 million budget set by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik at the start of the design process. The design team anticipates that the regional economic climate will have considerable influence how contractors sharpen their pencils when preparing their bid submissions.
