Bidding on new PCHS slightly delayed

Plans to open the bidding to contractors for construction of the new Phil Campbell High School have been delayed in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with another bid opening in the state.
According to Franklin County Superintendent Gary Williams, open bidding for the PCHS project was originally scheduled for Sept. 27.
However, school officials recently discovered this would conflict with an $84-million project being bid out in Tuscaloosa.
“Most every contractor around will be putting in for the project in Tuscaloosa,” Williams said. “We thought it would be better for us to move our bidding back two weeks and give the contractors who didn’t get the Tuscaloosa job a chance to come and bid on our project.
“We’re hoping that the more bidders we have, the better price we’ll be able to receive, so it was in the best interest of the school system that we push the date back.”
The new open bidding date for the PCHS project is Oct. 9.
Williams said there would be a pre-qualifying bid conference for all interested contractors on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the Franklin County Board of Education.
“There are certain qualifications a contractor or company will need in order to even bid on this project, so we’re having this conference to make sure the people bidding meet the criteria.”
Williams said for example, contractors must have worked on at least one other project that was worth $10 million or more in value in order to be considered for the PCHS project.
“There are just several little things like that they’re looking for, so they’ll go over all of that on Tuesday and we’ll go from there,” he said.
Williams said they are still hoping to have the high school finished by the fall of 2014 but they will have to play it by ear once the construction phase actually gets underway.