Problem with original procedure posed a liability
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
A joint meeting between the City of Burlington Common Council and the Board of Public Works cleared the way Wednesday night for the city to rebid its wastewater treatment plant upgrade project.
Due to an error in the computer program being used for the bids the first time, the bid opening May 10 produced a number of flawed bids before city staff – and Alderman Katie Simenson – noticed the problem.
Although the problem was fixed, the situation led to Mayor Bob Miller advising the council to not disband the Board of Public Works, as had originally been on the agenda, two weeks ago.
The decision to reject the bids, though, came as a result of two companies arguing over who should get the project based on the bids submitted.
“There is potential litigation over two of the bidders,” said Miller, adding that two bidders are disputing who is actually the low bid.
As a result, in order to create as fair an environment as possible and to avoid litigation, the two groups voted to reject all bids and rebid the project.
The next bid opening will be sometime in the coming month.
“We have to put the bid package together and send it out again,” said Miller, who estimated it would take 2-3 weeks to compile the specifications and send it out, and another week to get the results back in.
-
-
-
-
-