CCSN building bids rejected

Thursday, July 26, 2001 | 11:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Public Works Board on Wednesday rejected all bids for a $13.5 million science building at the Henderson campus of the Community College of Southern Nevada on grounds that bid specifications were ambiguous.

In a 4-1 vote the board accepted the protest of Pace Contracting, which challenged the award of the contract to Clark and Sullivan Constructors Inc.

A spokeswoman for the board estimated it would be about eight weeks before new bids would be reopened.

Clark and Sullivan submitted the low bid on June 7 of $15.3 million for the job, and Pace was third lowest at $16.4 million. Pace claimed Clark and Sullivan did not follow the specifications by failing to include a certain type of tension fabric in its bid.

In its bid Pace included $1.8 million to buy the fabric from Birdair Inc., a New York firm, as called for in the bid document. Clark and Sullivan proposed using a substitute that would have cost $700,000, or $1.1 million less.

Board member Irene Porter of Las Vegas said there was a "great deal of ambiguity" in the bid document. And she said it was wise to rely on the legal counsel for the board.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Brett Kandt and Board Manager Dan O'Brien recommended tossing out all the bids and starting again.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux complained during a meeting last week about the expensive "gingerbread" being designed into public buildings. He noted the $1.1 million saving in the Clark and Sullivan bid.

Comeaux said that in the future he's going to ask the board to keep a closer watch on the design of these projects, most of them at the University and Community College System of Nevada, to ensure the costs are kept down.

The vote to rebid the project was 4-1; Jesse Paulk of Las Vegas dissented. Paulk said there was no ambiguity in the bid documents, and it would be a "waste of time and money" to reject the bids.

The architects will now redraft the bid specifications to clear up any misunderstandings among the contractors.