Seekonk DPW Building Costs Increase

The cost of the new Department of Public Works facility continues to increase.

The latest estimate from the DPW Building Committee is $41.4 million. The project’s start date is set for the first week of December. Construction is set for completion in August 2026. A vote to approve the funding will be held at the Fall Town Meeting on November 18, followed by a ballot referendum vote on November 25.

At a January 31 meeting with the Seekonk Select Board, the cost of the project was set at $31.2 million. The DPW Building Committee estimated the bond needed for construction was $29, 750,000.

When the DPW Building Committee presented an overview to the Seekonk Select Board on July 24, the cost estimate of the project jumped to $40.7 million.

However, the actual construction cost of the building is $36.5 million.  

$1.4 million will be allocated for architectural and engineering services. OPM (Owners Project Manager) services will be $725,000. Owner contingency is $1.7 million. Project soft costs are $600,000. Furniture, fixtures, equipment, and technology allowance is $250,000.

The proposed design is for a 61, 815 square-foot building. The garage will be 41, 850 square feet. The remaining space will be for maintenance and administration.

Brewster Thornton Architects came up with the designs for the facility. The complete building project timeline and architectural drawings can be viewed on the town web site – www.seekonk-ma.gov.

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime told the Reporter on August 8 about multiple stages in the design process, including schematic design, design development, and construction documentation.

 “On July 24, at 60 percent completion of the construction documents, the project cost estimate increased to $40.7 million. It's important to note that the initial Schematic Design estimates should not be heavily relied upon, as they did not account for site-related costs due to incomplete geotechnical testing,” Cadime noted. “As we now know, the site requires significant fill, adding an estimated $10-$11 million to the cost.”

There were four bids submitted for the project. The low bidder was H.V. Collins with a bid amount of $36.5 million. The other bidders were Colantonio, Inc., Cranshaw Construction, and Agostini Construction. Agostini’s bid was the highest - $52 million.

According to the Building Committee’s September 18 meeting minutes: “The project team extended the General Contractor (GC) bid due date to September 30, 2024 to provide contractors more time to review the information being provided in Addendum. The bids will be presented to the Building Committee on October 2nd. Dan Tavares (CGA Project Management) explained that as noted in previous reports, this schedule extension fits the timeline for GCs holding their bids for 45 days for approval at the December 4, 2024 Board of Selectman meeting.”

An October 4 letter from Christopher Powers, the Vice President of Colantonio, Inc. to Tavares read in part: “I am writing to formally raise concerns regarding the bid submission for the New Construction of the Seekonk DPW project opened on October 3, 2024, for which Colantonio Inc. was the second-lowest bidder ($36.7 million). Upon reviewing the low bidder’s submission, we have discovered that the bid bond lacks a witness signature, which we believe renders the bid non-compliant under the terms of Section H of the Invitation to Bid and public bid procurement law. Section H of the Invitation to Bid clearly states that, "The Bidder must fill in all required fields and signatures either digitally or manually."

“The absence of a witness signature on the bid bond constitutes a failure to meet this requirement. In public procurement, the integrity of the bidding process hinges on strict adherence to all instructions and legal requirements. Allowing bidders to correct omissions such as a missing signature after submission would violate the principles of the competitive bidding statute. Additionally, bid bonds must be enforceable as submitted, and a bond missing a required signature could be contested, putting the awarding authority at significant risk.”