Concerns with Bid Process Threaten $5.9 Million Chippewa Valley Project

A local contractor’s concerns regarding the bid process used by Chippewa Valley Schools came close to pulling the rug out from under a multimillion-dollar district project this week–literally. 

The board of education was set to approve some $5.9 million in construction and sitework projects Monday when John Johnson, president of the Macomb Business Alliance, told the board he believed the bid process used for the carpeting portion of the project “wasn’t what it should have been.”

“This one particular bid, the way it was structured, limited competition … I would challenge you in the future to do better … to pay more attention to bid (specifications) so they are structured in a way to create competition and get a better buy for your district,” Johnson said, speaking on behalf of Ron's Carpet and Design, whose bid was denied. 

Of the $5.9 million allocated by the board for construction and sitework at Dakota High School, Chippewa Valley High School and Algonquin Middle School this year, almost $800,000 was budgeted for new flooring–some 20,000 square feet of carpeting between the two high schools alone.

Johnson’s primary concern with this bid was the district’s specification of a certain brand of flooring, of which only a few local contractors are certified to install.

Bid process limits options, possible savings

“You’ve limited yourself now to just one particular brand of carpeting," Johnson said. "As it turns out, as I understand it, it’s the brand of carpeting that you folks have been using in the school district since the mid-70s and I quite frankly find it difficult to believe in the last 35 plus years no new products have come into the marketplace."

District architect Brian Smilnak, of Wakely Associates, argued this was not the case.

“I haven’t seen anything else in the K-12 atmosphere that would hold up the way this carpet does,” Smilnak said, adding that contrary to Johnson's statement, the district did not limit bidding to just one brand.

During the bidding process, anyone is allowed to submit a substitute product for the district’s consideration, which Ron's Carpet and Design did. However, at the time of this particular bid, the track record of that substitute product was unknown and thus thrown out, Smilnak said.

Whereas the carpeting currently used in Chippewa lasts on average 15-20 years, the proposed substitute is not known to have an equal lifespan, though it may be cheaper.

New product not worth financial risk 

“I’m not willing to gamble, personally, and have to replace this carpeting again in three, five, or seven years and end up losing more money than we’re saving on this bid,” said board President George Sobah. “It’s not worth it to me. For something that’s not proven, I don’t feel comfortable trying it out.”

Although Trustees Frank Bednard and Julie Fitzgerald voted to have the carpeting bid removed from the project to allow further investigation, the pair were outvoted by the other five members of the board to keep the current bid part of the $5.9 million project.

“I was satisfied with this bid process and I would like to remind the board that we hire these people to make these decisions for us,” said Trustee Andrew Patzert, referring to district-hired architects and engineers. “It passed the bid process and we should trust the people who made the decisions.”

The new carpeting and other approved renovations to Dakota, Chippewa Valley and Algonquin will begin in June and should be completed by fall 2012. 

Funding for this $5.9 million project will come from the 2010 Building & Site Fund.