Construction phase to begin for Ledyard school renovation projects
Ledyard — The committee tasked with managing the town's $65 million school renovation projects has begun verifying the bid packages for Ledyard Middle School and Gallup Hill School after receiving them in March.
Overall, Permanent Municipal Building Committee Chairman Steven Juskiewicz said, the bids have come in lower than the cost estimate and construction is on schedule to begin soon.
"Things are good fiscally but we're less than 1 percent into the construction period ... there's a long way to go," he said.
So far, six bid packages have been awarded, so both sites can be prepared to allow construction to begin this summer.
The rest still are being examined by the construction manager through a process called scoping, which determines whether the construction specifications match what the committee selected and if the contractors are qualified.
Once all of the bids have been examined, construction manager O&G Industries will determine a guaranteed maximum price, not to be exceeded unless there are major changes in the scope of the project. Because the committee chose a "construction manager at-risk" contract method, any escalation in costs above the maximum price are the responsibility of O&G unless the town wants to make big changes.
Since the bids came in lower than the committee and O&G had estimated, the company is able to hold more money in contingency in case something unforeseen comes up.
The bids are divided up into different trades, and some contractors may withdraw their bid if they determine they didn't give an accurate estimate, so it will take some time for O&G to calculate the guaranteed maximum price.
One bid package, with security features like CCTV and alarms, did not receive a response but Juskiewicz said the town should have no problem getting companies interested when it sends out the package again.
He will inform councilors and the Board of Education when O&G finishes its calculations, which he estimated will be done in two weeks.
The legislature still needs to vote on a school construction bill that will approve the town's roughly 62.86 percent reimbursement. The town is eligible for extra money to cover interest incurred on its loans due to delays during the state budget process last year.
Dates for the groundbreaking ceremony have been set for April 21 at Ledyard Middle School and April 26 at Gallup Hill School. Both will start at 9:30 a.m.
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