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By RENITA FENNICK; Times Leader Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 29, 1995 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes-Barre Area School Board should reject all bids for
the construction of its proposed $19 million school and start the bidding
process from scratch, the project manager recommended Monday.
Robert W. Pettinato, president of Pace Construction Managers, Scranton,
said the district would save about $300,000 if it redesigned the
specifications by “breaking up” some of the construction projects.
“If it was my building, I’d rebid,” Pettinato told the board.
Instead of voting to rebid, the board voted 7-0 to not take action on the
contracts and directed Pace Construction Managers to work with the architects
to prepare a revised set of specifications.
Pace was hired Aug. 15 to oversee the construction of the elementary/middle
school on the site of Plains Memorial Stadium, Plains Township, near the
Wilkes-Barre city border. The stadium is scheduled to be razed.
Pettinato suggested the architects, the Quad Three Group Inc., and Strach
Associates, both of Wilkes-Barre, change some of the project plans.
“These are good bids but I think you can do a little better,” Pettinato
told the board. “I think if we take the same set of documents and change them
a bit, redefine the scope of some of the work, we can break the project into
smaller projects, particularly in the area of general construction and
plumbing. This would open the project up to more local small contractors.”
When the district advertised for bids on June 19, it broke the construction
into four categories: general construction, electrical, plumbing and HVAC
(heating, ventilation and air conditioning).
The 29 total bids for the project were opened at a July 26 special meeting.
At that time, Joel Sims, architect for Quad Three, said the lowest base
bids in all four categories of work was $17.8 million, $1.2 million less than
the projected $19 million cost of the project.
Architect David Strach of Strach Associates said rebidding some of the work
“is all about cost-effectiveness.”
Board member Alice Koury Corba said she was concerned with the additional
architectural costs the specification changes would involve. She asked Strach
to give an estimate on the cost of preparing new plans.
“It’s difficult to say since we (the architects) first have to discuss the
changes with Pace,” Strach said. He said he would provide the board with an
estimate as soon as possible.
Rejecting the project bids and starting a new bidding process would delay
the groundbreaking for the school about two months, to Nov. 1. The school
would be complete by June 1997, Pettinato said.
The state-of-the-art, 20,000-square-foot school would accommodate 1,650
students in kindergarten through eighth-grade.
The new school, which has been in the discussion stage since 1992, would
house students from four elementary schools in Plains Township. The buildings
have been deemed by the board as too costly to renovate.