NEWRY — The Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday evening to ask the companies who submitted bids for the Sunday River Road construction project to resubmit them by Monday, Aug. 8.
Engineer Joe Aloisio of the JAGA Engineering firm told the board that two bids came in for the project to rebuild a section of the road.
Cross Excavation of Bethel offered to do the work for $1.13 million, with some exclusions put into its notes, Aloisio said. Swasey Excavation of Andover offered a $893,875 bid with no exclusions.
However, Aloisio pointed out that when Swasey Excavation submitted its bid, it did not include a receipt of an addendum.
An addendum is a document that informs the contractor of additions to the original bid package ahead of construction.
“The letter we sent out with the bid packages clearly stated that we needed a receipt of addendum to be submitted, with the reasoning being that if we don’t have the addendum receipt, the contractor can say they didn’t get it, and that the addendums are not included in their bids,” Aloisio said.
Steve Swasey, who was at Wednesday evening’s meeting, said he signed the document on Aug. 1, but didn’t include it in his bid.
“Well, technically, is Swasey Excavation disqualified?” Chairman Gary Wight asked.
Aloisio told Wight that in the letter that the town sent with the bid package, it gave the town the right to reject all bids.
Town Administrator Amy Bernard said she spoke with the town attorney, who said the town had two options: award the bid to Cross Excavation, or ask both Cross and Swasey Excavation to resubmit their bids.
“After they resubmit them, you would meet again next week to decide,” Bernard told the selectmen.
Bernard suggested that the board go with the second option.
“It’s a $250,000 difference,” she said. “That’s a significant amount of money.”
Swasey asked the board Wednesday, “How do you resubmit a bid when everyone knows what your bid is?”
After a brief discussion, the board voted 3-0 to ask Cross and Swasey Excavation to resubmit their bids.
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