Conte Masonry Bid From Pittsfield Company Reinstated
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The attorney general's office came back with a decision on Thursday in favor of a local contractor that's also good news for the city.
A protest had been filed by another bidder against Champlain Masonry of Pittsfield for subcontracting work on the Conte School renovation project.
Champlain had missed an item on the bidding application that required a signatory for certain work. Champlain was supposed to indicate if the company would do the work or if it would be sub-subcontracted.
Champlain was also the lowest bid of the three submitted for the subcontracting work for masonry repair and replacement.
Officials had been ordered to reject the bid but Champlain countered with its own protest for a hearing over what has been described as a "technical error."
According to the addendum added to the $29 million project, the attorney general's office decided in favor of Champlain and reinstated the bid.
That's good for the city since Champlain's bid was some $300,000 lower than the second-place one. Subcontracting bids for the renovation came in 8 percent over estimate and the loss of the Champlain bid pushed the total over $1 million.
Champlain bid $2,359,001; Lighthouse Masonry of New Bedford, $2,674,000, and Cantarella & Sons, also of Pittsfield, $3,450,837.
The general contractor bids now due on Monday at 2 (delayed a week because of the protest) can contain the lower masonry bid.
Tags: attorney general, bidding, Conte School,
