Friday, April 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Corrections Corp. of America, which runs prisons in 11 states and two foreign countries, is the preferred bidder to build and operate a 400-bed women's prison in Clark County.
The company has selected a remote area in the extreme northeast part of the Las Vegas Valley near Nellis Air Force Base. The site is located at Smiley and Lamb boulevards.
The project is already behind schedule and the bids are all above the amount allowed by the 1995 Legislature.
State Prison Director Bob Bayer said Thursday that Corrections Corp., of Nashville, Tenn., was rated first among the four bidders. He said he will begin negotiations toward a contract immediately. If agreement cannot be reached, than Bayer will bargain with the second-ranked company, Wackenhut Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla.
Coming in third was Management & Training Corp. of Ogden, Utah, and scoring fourth was Cornell Corrections of Ventura, Calif.
Bayer said a public hearing has been tentatively set for April 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas to allow comment on the location of the project.
All four bidders are reportedly over the expected price.
"Price is an issue and subject to negotiations," said prison spokesman Glen Whorton. The proposed bid costs were not disclosed by the prison.
The 1997 Legislature set aside $3.3 million to pay the winning bidder this year for six months of operation. It set the price at $55 a day for 275 inmates and $45 a day for 75 other convicts who require less security.
In the bids, the prison said construction shall not exceed 12 months and a 10-month schedule is desirable.
The women's prison was scheduled to open in January 1997, but it won't meet that deadline. The state Board of Examiners will have to approve the contract, which will also be reviewed by the Legislative Interim Finance Committee.
Whorton said the final contract won't be ready for approval for the next examiners board meeting at the end of this month.
"It's important to get this moving," Whorton said. "We expect it to take about one year." This means the project would be four to five months past the anticipated completion.
The winning contractor and the state will sign a four-year contract, which can be renewed. The state can convert it into a lease purchase, allowing the state to become the owner of the prison down the line.
This is Nevada's first venture into allowing a private company to construct and operate a prison.
Most of the women inmates are housed at a prison next to the state prison in Carson City. When the Clark County prison is completed, they would be transferred and the present women's prison would be converted to a men's penitentiary.
There's already a crunch on space. Last month, there were 7,785 inmates in the system. The system predicted last year there would be a 7,501 population in March 1996.
Corrections Corp. operates 47 prisons and has 30,437 beds in 11 states, Puerto Rico, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Wackenhut has also suggested a site near Nellis Air Force Base, close to the Las Vegas Speedway now under construction. That site was approved Thursday by the County Planning Commission.
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