Jackson rebids school
construction contract

JACKSON — The Board of Education will go out to bid again for the general construction component of the district’s second high school while a judge considers a challenge to the original contract award.

The board awarded the general construction contract to Art Anderson Co., Vineland, in May. The firm’s bid was the lowest qualified bid and came in $1.7 million under the next lowest bidder, Seacoast Builders, Colts Neck, according to a press release from district administrators.

Following a challenge by Seacoast Builders to the contract award, Superior Court Assignment Judge Eugene Serpen-telli, sitting in Toms River, ruled in July that the contract award was not valid due to Anderson Co.’s prequalification limit.

When seeking state construction contracts, all contractors must submit pre-qualification documentation that certifies the company is able to undertake the total contract amount while the project is under construction. Similar to a prequalification for a residential mortgage, the contract amount cannot exceed the debt amount the bidder is prequalified to handle.

The board awarded the bid to Anderson because the total amount of the general construction contract as awarded did not exceed Anderson’s prequalification limit, according to the press release. The second-lowest bidder, however, maintains that the amount of the general construction contract — plus all alternate work advertised in the bid — exceeds Anderson’s prequalification amount, making Anderson ineligible.

The district, however, is not asking Anderson to take on all of the alternate projects and awarded its bid only for the general construction contract and a limited number of alternates, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said.

"The contract we awarded did not exceed the amount of money for which the company was prequalified," Gialanella said. "We don’t believe the contract should be voided because of work we are not requiring the contractor to do."

A hearing is scheduled for September. Meanwhile, the board voted on Aug. 19 to rebid the project in order to expedite the process in the event its appeal is unsuccessful.

"Rebidding the project allows us to solicit new bids in case our appeal is denied," Gialanella said. "We need to be in a position to keep things moving ahead if we need to."

The imposed delay to the construction contracts as a result of Seacoast’s lawsuit has affected the building timeline, which has progressed on schedule since the January 2002 referendum that approved the project.

"Up to this point we have maintained the board’s original schedule for submitting plans for approval and soliciting bids," Gialanella said. "But this delay has unfortunately brought us past our deadline for beginning construction. We are now looking at a either a mid-year opening in the 2005-06 school year or a September 2006 opening for this school.

"We find ourselves in an unfortunate situation," he said. "We’re focusing now on making our case to be able to accept what we feel is a qualified bid that came in $1.7 million below the next. That is a lot of money to the residents of Jackson."