Linn County extends deadline to resolve botched bid on office building project

Linn County supervisors this morning gave themselves two more days to review the legal issues involved in Hillebrand Construction's botched bid on the county's new main office building.

“You definitely have a week to sort through the various issues,” Assistant County Attorney Gary Jarvis told supervisors at this morning's work session.

Supervisors voted to put the issue on the agenda for Wednesday's formal meeting at 10 a.m. at Linn County West in Westdale Mall.

Jarvis noted the bids on the job, opened July 27, are valid 30 days, and the contractor selected by supervisors has 10 days to officially accept the contract.

Last week, Hillebrand Construction, based in Davenport, asked the supervisors to release the firm from its incorrectly-calculated bid on the Jean Oxley Public Services Center, which is set to be built around the gutted former Administrative Office Building, 930 First St. SW. But supervisors said they may tap the firm's bond to make up the difference between it and the next-lowest bid.

“We'll take the time to have legal look at it, to figure out what the next steps are,” board chair Linda Langston said last Thursday. “I understand they made  a mistake, I understand it was an honest mistake, but it's a publicly-bid project.”

Langston said Hillebrand is asking the county not to execute its bid bond. Bidders must post a bond for 5 percent of the bid to ensure performance on the job. But Langston noted such a move could lead to a legal challenge that could delay the project.

Hillebrand looked like the winner when bids on the project were opened last Tuesday, with a bid of $10.7 million. But when Garth Fagerbakke, the county's construction manager, reviewed the bids afterward, he found the list of project subcontractors required by the county was really just a list of vendors who could work on the job.

“There are a couple of abnormalities,” Fagerbakke told the supervisors last week.

Fagerbakke said Hillebrand supplied a more complete subcontractor list late Tuesday afternoon, after he contacted the firm.

Hillebrand also notified Fagerbakke that the $170,230 cost reduction it listed for the use of terrazo rather than ceramic floor tiles should actually be just $2,555.

“That is a significant amount of money,” Fagerbakke observed.

“It seems like a massive error,” agreed Supervisor Brent Oleson. “These became public, they signed the bid bond.”

If Hillebrand decides to pull its bid, Miron Construction of Cedar Rapids becomes the low bidder, at $11 million.

Supervisor Ben Rogers said he didn't want other contractors to follow Hillebrand's lead with future bids.

“I would hate for other contractors to say ‘They asked for the sub list but they let others slide,'” he said. “There is a precedent here we need to be aware of.”

“I want a legitimate good-faith effort that they're putting the people (on the list) that they're going to use,” Oleson said. “This general contractor could be shopping around all day” after bids were opened and competitors' bids became public.

“Their bid is their bid,” said Assistant County Attorney Gary Jarvis. “You don't get to change it later.”