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Officials 'Disappointed' with Lack of Bids for Civic Center
By George Nelson YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Michael Perry admits he was "a little disappointed in the local subcontractors" for their lack of response to bids on the underground plumbing package for the Youngstown Convocation Center."You have a lot of good plumbing subcontractors around here and for one reason or another they've chosen not to bid," said Perry, project manager for Hunt Construction Group, which is building the center. "It's been well advertised and they've had several opportunities to bid on it so I think I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't disappointed."At the bid opening yesterday, only two contractors submitted bids for the underground plumbing, the third time the work has been bid. Komar Plumbing of Boardman submitted a bid of $345,000, and Marucci and Gaffney of Youngstown submitted a bid of $423,414, along with bids of $407,455 for site paving and $79,661 for demolition for a combined bid of $905,530. Marucci and Gaffney stated in its bid that it would not accept the contract based on the individual bids but rather the combined contracts. Empire Dismantlement Corp. of Tonawanda, N.Y., submitted a bid of $87,320 for the demolition work.Engineering estimates for the work were $380,000 for plumbing, $675,000 for paving and $160,000 for demolition. Carmen Conglose, city deputy director for public works, said the plumbing estimate was revised due to questions from potential bidders regarding the scope of work for the project. Conglose said contractors' lack of availability within the tight timeframe for the project might be the reason why they have been reluctant so submit bids. "It's a tight project and you have to get the contractors on the site very quickly," he said. Bid openings for the structural steel and pre-cast concrete portions of the project have been extended until Sept. 21 due to various questions subcontractors have asked regarding the work. He said erection of the structural steel on the site isn't slated to begin until the first part of January."The design process is very far along," Perry said. "The architect and the engineers are looking toward the end of October being completely done with the design."Regarding an aspect of the project that has yet to receive any bids, the elevator work, Perry said the city is still reviewing its options. "They need to look at their charter and they need to look at the federal requirements to make sure that everything is above board on awarding the elevator package." In talking to representatives from the elevator companies that took out bid packages, Perry said they didn't like some of the contract terms, in particular the minority participation goals. "They didn't want to commit to that, and because that was part of the contract they felt like they couldn't bid if they were not willing to accept the entire contract," he said. Overall, he said, site preparation work has progressing at an "outstanding" pace, even with the recent heavy rains. "The good thing about that site is it drains extremely well so even if there's been a lot of rain, the next day we're usually right back on it," he said. "We've had a good schedule and everything is on board so far."Visit the Youngstown Convocation Center at www.youngstownconvocationcenter.comContact George Nelson at [email protected]"