After rejecting two bids last week for the Hancock Force Main Project, city council members this week started the bidding process again.
City Attorney Andy Alexander and City Engineer Bill Burle, with the council’s approval, decided to move forward and work on a notice to start the rebidding process.
At the Aug. 6 Greenville City Council meeting, council members voted unanimously to reject the two bids on the Hancock Force Main Project, one from Wallace C. Drennan Inc., of New Orleans, Louisiana, and one from Quadex Lining Systems LLC, of Houston, Texas.
Because the city’s $4.5 million bid from Quadex Lining Systems was nearly $2 million less than the bid from Wallace C. Drennan, the city reported to both companies they would be accepting the lowest bid.
The city later received two letters of protest from Drennan concerning the city’s decision to accept the bid from Quadex. One of those letters, Burle said Drennan claimed the project was not an emergency.
Ultimately, city council members voted to reject both bids last week to avoid possibly going to court, which would delay the starting time on the project.
“Given all of the circumstances with the flood staging continuing to damage this lift station, we were concerned that because of the protest that this would lead to ligation so we voted that this was deemed an emergency condition,” Alexander previously said.
The funds used for the Hancock Pump Station come from State Revolving Fund loans, which requires the city to meet a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) goal. If the city doesn’t meet the goal, they have to show an attempt during the bidding process.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, Burle said he reached out to the contractor from Quadex but they made no attempt at all to meet the SRF’s goal.
“(Quadex) claims that in Texas, they do it after the award and not before. I said that it is clearly stated in our contract document. I even have examples of letters along with a list of certified MBE and WBE they are all in there. There is a process you have to fill out to show that you’ve made an attempt to sub contract some of the work to MBE or WBE,” Burle said.
Even if the city went forward with the notice of award, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will not approve the notice of award, which means the city couldn’t enter into a contract. The best thing to do, Burle said, is rebid.
The city needs to have their bidding process completed within six weeks, Burle said, noting they are going to amend the contract documents because he needs to reword some items in order for the companies understand exactly what the city is looking for.
The notice has to be approved by MDEQ and once approved, advertisements will be placed in the Delta Democrat-Times.
About the Hancock Pump Station
The Hancock Pump Station is, roughly, a two and a half mile force main replacement project that goes from North Theobald Street to South Theobald Street
“We are trying to increase the capacity of the force main by increasing the diameter from 16 inches to 20 inches,” Burle said.
The pump station, he said, is also in need of incidental work on the air relief valves and railroad crossings.
