Architect not present for Fred’s bids opening

What was expected to be an ordinary bid opening went surprisingly and oddly awry Tuesday afternoon, May 10, in New Albany.

The Oxford architectural firm of Eley Barkley Dale (EBD) was to receive bids from contractors competing to do work on the Fred’s and WIC buildings, acquired last year by New Albany Light, Gas, and Water (LGW).

A bid opening was routinely scheduled at New Albany City Hall for 2 p.m. that Tuesday afternoon. LGW General Manager Bill Mattox was present. LGW engineer Will Denton was present. New Albany Code Enforcement Officer Eric Thomas was present. News reporters and others were present.

However, nobody from Eley Barkley Dale (EBD) was present at 2 p.m.

Just shortly before the designated bid opening time, officials learned that no one from the Eley Barkley Dale would be present to oversee the opening.

Engineer Denton had been on the telephone with somebody at EBD.
“So no one is coming?” asked Light, Gas and Water Manager Bill Mattox. “I’ve never seen that before.”

Other experienced officials in the room echoed the question. Nobody had previously experienced instances when the architect had simply not been present for a bid opening.

Mattox inquired as to whether EBD could conduct the bid opening by “Zoom” or other electronic conferencing technology. He was told that EBD had not made those arrangements for participating electronically in the bid opening process.

Only two ink-on-paper bids had been received by LGW. Some disappointment was expressed that only two bids had been submitted, because the officials said they had been led by the architects to believe as many as eight or 10 might come in.

LGW Engineer Denton called EBD to see if the architects had received any bids e-mailed to them by potential contractors. “The architect called back,” said Denton. “No electronic bids. We’ve got two bids.”

The regular practice in bid openings for Mississippi cities and counties is for the architect or engineer to be present to manage the bid opening. On these occasions the architect explains the bids and answers questions from contractors, public officials, or the members of the public.

Somewhat unsure about how best to handle the situation, Mattox and Denton went ahead and opened the two ink-on-paper bids that had been submitted. Mattox said the two bids would be checked for accuracy and meeting the bid specifications. Then the apparent low bidder’s submission would eventually be considered by the New Albany Board of Aldermen, functioning as the LGW board.

“We hope to have the bids checked by the end of next week, then we will take them to the mayor for submission to the board,” Mattox said.

Then, after the ink-on-paper bids had been opened and many had left the room, EBD architects called back and said that three bids had, after all, been received by them electronically.

It was not clear why EBD architects had not informed LGW about the three bids earlier. However, it was determined that the three electronic bids had been submitted legally and on time.

Mattox then had to inform the two earlier bidders that one of them might not have been low after all.

EBD would receive a fee of seven percent of the cost of the project, $130,000 of which has been paid.

Architect Ross Barkley has represented EBD in its dealings with city and LGW officials.

NEMiss.News will publish a follow-up story tomorrow detailing the figures in the five bids deemed to have been received properly and timely.

JWS