SOUTHWICK – The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee approved contracting with Fontaine Brothers Construction as general contractors for the middle school/high school project.
The bid for general contractor, as well as sub-bids awarded earlier this month, both came in under budget by just over $6 million.
Fontaine Brothers was one of just two general contractor bidders. The other bid came from PDS Construction, which is the contracted general contractor for the Woodland Elementary School and Powder Mill Middle (soon to be intermediate) School project currently underway.
Project Manager Kurt Lavaway, of Strategic Building Solutions, said Fontaine Brothers was the lowest bidder at just over $24 million, a price that included four alternates.
“Alternate one was the sewer pipe, alternate two was the LED fixtures at the high school, alternate three was replacing the existing display cases with new ones, and alternate four was providing electric service from Feeding Hills Road to the high school,” said Lavaway.
Seven companies pre-qualified for the bid. Jon Winikur, owner’s project manager, said although they were surprised there were only two bids, he was happy with both companies and said Fontaine Brothers’ bid came in about $3 million under the estimated cost. He said sub-bids were also $3 million under estimations.
“It is important to remember the vast majority of that money will go back to the state,” Winikur said.
Because the Massachusetts School Building Authority has promised to reimburse more than 50-percent of the project, it will receive the same percentage of return on savings. Winikur said the district will end up with about $2 million in savings, which could be used to replace items from the original design that were cut because of a fear the costs would run over.
“We’re going to go back with the design team and see what’s available to be reinstated,” he said.
Winikur cited furniture and technology cuts as two easy items to add back to the project. He said those are also things that can be added at the end so that there are still extra contingency funds available.
Committee members asked about a timeline for reinstating items that need to be decided earlier in the project. Superintendent John Barry said the committee would not likely see any options until September.
“It’s going to take a while for them to see what can go back in,” said Barry.
