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City awards contract for YS&T razing
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The low bid of $72,000 to demolish the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. headquarters apparently was too good to be true.
So was the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one.
The five lowest proposals for the job either were disqualified or the companies involved withdrew their offers.
Those five proposals omitted costs for work, including asbestos abatement; had clerical errors making them incomplete and/or didn’t have the required performance bond, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department.
The board of control Thursday hired the All Excavating Co. of Youngstown for the work. The company’s proposal was $237,777.
That’s still well below the city’s estimate of $594,000 for the work. The city is using a state grant for the demolition project.
Overall, the city found only three of the 10 proposals submitted, including one that was $91,000 over the estimate, to be complete.
“That is very uncommon,” Shasho said. “The [project’s specifications] were very clear. I don’t know why they had so many problems understanding the specifications.”
The dilapidated structure on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is near the main entrance to V&M Star. The location would be used as green space and possibly for a V&M sign.
The work is to begin in August and be done in about 90 days.
Also, the city will meet shortly with officials with the Ohio Department of Transportation to discuss a new proposal for a railroad- relocation project needed for V&M Star’s $650 million expansion. That meeting could take place late next week, Shasho said.
The city had estimated the cost at $13.56 million. The lowest proposal it received was for $18.18 million. Overall, there were four proposals with the highest being $20.21 million.
The city wants to “reduce the scope” of the project by at least $2 million, Shasho said, but needed ODOT’s approval to do so. The money for the project comes from the federal stimulus package.
“I expect the [next round of] bids to come in lower because some were close to each other” causing companies to lower their proposals, Shasho said.
The city underestimated the price of rail, he said.
“We’re removing some track work and adding it as alternates” to the proposal, Shasho said.
This project is to relocate, remove and rebuild Norfolk Southern Railroad lines as well as install storm sewers and railroad crossings. The rail lines are located on the site of V&M’s $650 million expansion project.