Big bids jolt city school officials

By Harold Gwin

Furniture and fixture bids for two new Youngstown schools came in about $130,000 above estimates .

YOUNGSTOWN — City school administrators are at a loss to explain why bids for furniture, fixtures and equipment for two school buildings under construction came in well above architectural estimates.

The school board had authorized seeking joint bids on those items for the Volney Rogers and Woodrow Wilson middle schools in October, anticipating that bidding them in a package deal would result in a better overall price. The bids were structured so that they could be dealt with separately, if necessary.

The cost estimates at the time were $272,000 for each building, but the bids came in around $400,000 each in December, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs.

It’s not clear why the bids were so much higher than the architectural estimates, he said, noting that four companies bid on the contract and all were in the $400,000 range — an indication that they all saw the same thing in the bid specifications.

Balog Steines Hendricks & Manchester is the architectural firm on the Wilson project while ms consultants inc. is handling Volney Rogers.

DeNiro said the district went back to the architects to look at some changes that they hope will bring the cost down.

The decision was made by the school board Tuesday to rebid the Volney package immediately, as that $9.5 million building is slated to open this fall.

The revised-cost estimate is $330,000 for the Volney furniture, fixtures and equipment.

DeNiro said bidding on the Wilson package will be delayed. Construction on that $10.5 million facility is expected to be completed by midyear 2009-10.

The state is picking up 80 percent of the cost for both projects.

The two schools are the last on the list of 13 schools in a $187 million school rebuilding program launched by the city school district several years ago.

gwin@vindy.com