The Owego-Apalachin School District has announced that it will have to restart the bidding process for three construction bids to build the new Owego Elementary School. At the most recent board meeting, only one of the four expected bids were approved. The bids would be for the final two-thirds of the construction project. The general construction contract was awarded during the meeting, with the district giving the contract to Daniel Lynch of Endwell for $24.5 million. Lynch’s crew is already onsite at the new OES as they are doing the foundation work on the school. The contracts that need to be rebid are for electrical, plumbing, and air ventilation work. The district made the decision that it wanted to use the same vendor for the technology used in all buildings, but it can’t force the contractors the make the same choice, resulting in the district having to purchase the technology separately, as opposed to including the cost in the bid. The delay in bidding should not be a set-back for the opening date of the school since the bids being awarded are for work that won’t start until later in the construction stage. The school is scheduled to be open for the 2015-2016 school year. The district expects the new bids to go out by the end of the week.
