School board awards contract to replace windows, doors at Smithsburg High School

Waynesboro Construction of Frederick, Md., submitted the low bid of $930,919

February 15, 2012|By JULIE E. GREENE | julieg@herald-mail.com

The lowest bid to replace exterior windows and doors at Smithsburg High School was about $371,000 higher than the estimated project cost, but the Washington County Board of Education approved the contract last week.

The school’s windows and doors are more than 45 years old and in poor condition, Purchasing Supervisor Lisa Freeman told the school board during its Feb. 7 meeting.

The board approved the contract as part of a 7-0 vote on consent agenda items.

Waynesboro Construction of Frederick, Md., was awarded the contract with its low bid of $930,919, including nonprevailing wage rates. The State Interagency Committee for Public School Construction must approve the contract.

The estimated project cost was about $560,000, Rob Rollins, the school system’s director of facilities planning and development, said Tuesday.

Rollins said its difficult to pinpoint why the bids came in so much higher than the estimated cost. School system officials based the estimate on similar recent projects put out for bids, he said.

The market at the time of the bid can affect the cost, Rollins said.

After the bids came in, school system officials talked to some contractors about the pricing and determined the cost of some materials, such as aluminum, had gone up, Rollins said.

The other eight bids for the project, with nonprevailing wage rates, ranged from $932,800 by Callas Contractors of Hagerstown, to $1,143,670 by Rockwell Construction of Mercersburg, Pa., according to presentation documents.

The contract includes a new security vestibule at the school’s main entrance, the documents said.

When school ends for the summer break, work will begin to replace 266 windows of various sizes and 45 doors with more energy-efficient models, a move that will help reduce energy costs, according to presentation documents and Herald-Mail archives.

The goal is to have the work done before the 2012-13 school year starts, Rollins said.

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