Washington County Commissioners voted during their Thursday, January 13 meeting to re-bid a project to repair the Tennille Overpass.
As previously reported by WACO 100, Jerry Brinson of Atlas Consulting explained during the Tuesday, January 11 workshop that the Georgia Department of Transportation recently inspected the overpass in Tennille and identified deterioration in the rocker plates.
“This causes impact with the big, heavy trucks to slam down on the vents,” said Brinson. “So, this is something that has to be done.”
Brinson presented the Commissioners with three bids received to repair the overpass; he also provided a base bid, or an estimate, that was tabulated by Atlas Consulting.
During the Tuesday, January 11 workshop, Brinson noted that the lowest responsive bidder on this project was approximately 30 percent higher than their [Atlas Consulting’s] estimate.
“We can’t feel good about telling the County to accept this bid – normally with any consulting firm, when it gets 20 percent or higher, you think about rebidding,” said Brinson, adding that just because the County rebids the project, doesn’t mean the bids will be any lower. “It’s one of the chances you take.”
When discussing the delay in repairs, Brinson stated that the County shouldn’t see any further structural damage in the estimated two months it takes to select a contractor to make the repairs.
Commissioners further discussed their options during the Thursday, January 13 meeting. County Administrator Dustin Peebles reminded Commissioners that the lowest responsive bidder of the three bids received was nearly $140,000 higher than the estimate.
“If we re-bid this, it doesn’t guarantee we’ll get a better price, though,” said County Administrator Peebles.
After reviewing the bids, Washington County Commissioners voted to re-bid the project to seek additional quotes for the repairs to the Tennille overpass.