Liberty Council reboots airport hangar construction bidding

The Liberty City Council unanimously voted at its April 24 special meeting to unravel the requests for proposals and to re-bid the construction of two 10-unit hangars at Liberty Municipal Airport, a project that comports with broader plans to expand the local economy by attracting new business and creating jobs.

The council April 10 ratified the Liberty Community Development Corporations acceptance of the proposal that Beaumont-based Bruces General Construction Inc. submitted, which included storage walls and insulation as well as walls that would handle a 150 mph wind load.

The city accepted proposals rather than sealed bids because the former would allow the city to negotiate with prospective contractors, which was precisely what happened in this situation.

The Liberty firm was the low bidder until the citys staff changed the wind load from 130 mph to 150 mph and added storage walls and insulation to the the request. The change in the citys request flipped the ranking of the bidders, and the Beaumont company came in lower than the Liberty company.

Bruces $610,000 proposal came in under the $655,832 proposal that Liberty-based Pelco Construction submitted for the same type of structure; nevertheless Pelco President Matt Harris told the council that the difference was attributable to his firms submission of an engineered, stamped foundation that would withstand 150 mph, as the building would; the foundation needs to match the buildings windload.

The council unanimously voted to request new proposals, in the process providing detailed engineered plans instead of two-page generalized requests that gave the bidders the latitude to come in with their own proposals on how to best construct the hangars.

The councils rationale was that if engineered plans were submitted, which would include a certified foundation, then the proposals would compare apples to apples, a term council used on several points in the deliberations.

Harris spoke about the importance of hiring a city-based firm that would employ more city residents and pay taxes to the City of Liberty, Liberty County and the Liberty Independent School District.

He had two other key grievances. First, Bruces had the flexibility to lower its price, consistent with the sealed proposal process. Second, when the citys staff requested the submission of new estimates based on additional wind load capacities, insulation and storage, that information was requested verbally rather than in an engineered drawing that would have pinned down each competitor to a precise price for a precise product.

They adjusted their base bid, where it was lower than ours. ... I dont feel like its ethical to allow contractors to change the bid after the public opening, Harris said.

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Liberty Council reboots airport hangar construction bidding