Bid opening delayed for Washington County’s public safety building
Bid opening delayed for Washington County’s public safety building
The bid opening for Washington County’s new multimillion-dollar public safety building is being delayed by at least three weeks after one of the construction bidders protested the process when county officials put a heavy emphasis on using union labor to perform the work.
The opening of the 20 bids the county received was scheduled for last Thursday when the formal protest came in from one of the unnamed bidders, halting the process as the officials plan to revise the bid requirements and release more information.
The bid protest centers around the county identifying a “public liability agreement” asserting extraordinary circumstances with the project, which typically involve tight construction timelines or concerns about the lack of skilled workers available. The complaint apparently stems from a bidder that uses mostly non-union labor that is concerned about the county not offering enough details on the reasons for the extraordinary circumstances to use predominantly union labor.
County solicitor Gary Sweat said the county included the PLA with the project because construction of the public safety building is expected to coincide with the build-out of the new 911 emergency radio system that will hopefully be ready for first responders next year. He said they plan to revise the bid application to explain in more detail the extraordinary circumstances.
“Just to be safe and err on the side of caution, what’s another two weeks? Let’s publish those extraordinary circumstances so no one can say we didn’t explain it,” Sweat said. “We’re just trying to be proactive about it.”
County officials had hoped to open the bids last week in order for the commissioners to vote to award the contract at this Thursday’s monthly meeting.
The county now plans to open the bids on July 30, and the commissioners could award the contract during a special meeting later that day or wait until their next regular voting meeting on Aug. 18. The 20 current bids remain sealed, and the contractors can either revise them or keep them as is while new contractors will now have another two weeks to submit their own.
The public safety building is being built on the site of the Courthouse Square county office building that was demolished over the last few months. Adamo Demolition is finishing up work on the project after beginning to raze the parking garage seven-story office building in March. The site appears to be mostly shovel ready with a large pad cleared and only the former 911 dispatch center remaining.
AE Works of Sewickley, which is the architect designing the public safety building, delivered its final plans on the construction drawings in May, allowing the county to put the project out to bid.
The three-story public safety building’s facade will mimic the exterior of the neighboring Crossroads Center county office building across West Beau Street. The public safety building will house the 911 dispatch center, sheriff’s office, booking center and have other various office space for county government, along with some areas for civic institutions to gather for meetings.
It’s not known what the cost of the new building will be, although the commissioners approved a $12.5 million bond in November 2024 to partially fund the demolition and construction project.