Board of Awards Meeting – May 3, 2026
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Board of Awards Meeting – May 3, 2026
Note: The transcript header states the meeting occurred on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, but the provided date for this summary is May 3, 2026. This discrepancy is acknowledged and may reflect a typographical error in the transcript or a rescheduled meeting.
The Board of Awards met on May 3, 2026, at 10:00 AM, chaired by Purchasing Agent Chip Polk. Attendees included Superintendent of Construction Services Tom Hughes, Assistant Corporation Counsel Tracy Norris, Superintendent of Public Services Tim Nolan, Engineer Tom Baltimant, Assistant Purchasing Agent Stephen Talley, City Engineer/Public Works Director Antonio Darola, and Assistant Finance Director Kara Punty. The agenda was reordered to prioritize bridge rehabilitation items.
Discussion Items
- Rehabilitation of Bridge 04176 (Kennedy Avenue over Still River) – Rebid Rejection: Bid #1225.601 was a rebid for bridge repairs. The initial bids exceeded budget, prompting engineering to reduce scope. Despite the reduced scope, the two received bids (low from New England Infrastructure at $3,058,650) came in higher than the original bids with full scope. Tom Hughes explained the bridge, built in the 1960s as part of flood mitigation, is deteriorating and urgently needs repairs to avoid capacity reduction or closure. The board unanimously voted to reject both bids.
- Award to Hemlock Construction via Gordian/CRCOG Contract: Following rejection, the board considered a proposal from Hemlock Construction (dated March 30, 2026) to perform the same work under the existing Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) on-call construction contract. The proposed amount was $2,816,835.09—approximately $240,000 lower than the rejected low bid. Tom Hughes recommended the award, citing the city’s long use of the Gordian contract. The board unanimously approved the award, contingent on contract execution.
- Annual Paving in Place and Related Services – Bid Award: The annual unit-price bid for paving services received six bids. Tim Nolan analyzed costs based on average quantities over the past three years plus 2026 projections. Asphalt Repair Solutions was the low bidder, and American Pavement Specialists the second-low bidder. Based on the success of a similar dual-award approach in the prior year (which improved scheduling efficiency), the board unanimously voted to award contracts to both firms, contingent on contract execution.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to reject all bids for Bridge 04176 rehabilitation (bid #1225.601): Passed unanimously.
- Motion to award the bridge rehabilitation contract to Hemlock Construction through the Gordian/CRCOG contract in the amount of $2,816,835.09, contingent on contract execution: Passed unanimously.
- Motion to award the paving in place and related services contracts to both Asphalt Repair Solutions and American Pavement Specialists, contingent on contract execution: Passed unanimously.
- Meeting adjourned after the paving award (no further agenda items).
Meeting Transcript
Okay, this is the Board of Awards for Wednesday, April 1st, 2026, filling the meeting the order at 10 o'clock AM. My name is Chip Polk, I'm the purchasing agent. We have with us an attendance today, Mr. Tom Hughes, superintendent of construction services. We have attorney Tracy Norris, Assistant Corporation Counsel. We have Mr. Tim Nolan, Superintendent of Public Services. We have Mr. Tom Baltimant, engineer from our engineering department. Stephen Talley, assistant purchasing agent, Mr. Antonio Darola, our city engineerslash public works director, and Ms. Kara Punty, our assistant finance director. Everybody, we've been asked, we're going to shift the items around. We're going to put three and four to the top. I don't think anybody had a problem with that. So we'll start with uh bid number uh 1225.601. That was the rehabilitation of bridge 04176, Kennedy Avenue over Still River. This was a rebid. And for the record, yes, this was a rebid. The initial bids I came in over budget engineering um to rework the scope uh to reduce uh to reduce the requirements. Uh we issued this bid. We got two bids. The parallel bidder was New England infrastructure, assumation of $3 million $58,650. And that was also over budget. So I believe we want to reject both of these bids at this time. That's correct. Yeah. Um, I just want to add to what Chuck said is even with the reduction in the scope and minimizing some of the requirements of the bid, actually, bids came in higher than the previous bids that had the scope in it. Um, so we spent Tom and I spent a lot of times looking at the pay items, and we feel the best thing to do at this point is reject full for those bids. Okay, so motion is to reject all bids. Not all in favor. Tracy and recent Antonio Rule in favor. All right, motion carries unanimously corporation council. Thank you, department. Thank you. Improvements to bridge 04176 Kennedy Avenue overstill river engineering. Uh and for the record, we shouldn't roll and submitted a uh proposal from Hemlock Construction. It was dated uh March 30, 2026. Uh, this is to perform uh the subject work. Uh the total proposed amount is 2,816,835.09 cents and Hemlock Construction uh proposed to do this work for their current capital region council of government's crack on call construction contract for roads and bridges. That's correct. Um I I just want to put on the record that uh uh Kennedy Avenue Bridge is the longest city-owned bridge in the entire city. Um it was built in the 60s and was part of the 1955 flood mitigation, which is actually built by the Army Corps, utilizes a very uh unique construction um uh types and structures, and it is deteriorating uh terribly. And we are in urgent need of making these repairs. If not, uh the bridge is either going to get um uh under uh uh reduction in capacity or it's gonna end up having to be closed because it's it's deteriorating. So we did utilize the uh Gordian uh bid uh that you just made reference to and uh we did get a price back that is 240 some odd thousand dollars lower than the lowest bid that we just rejected. So it seems to be in the best interest of the city to proceed this way. And as you know, we've used the Gordian uh bid for a long time on multiple projects. So uh so my recommendation is that we make the award to Hemlock through the um uh Gordian and the uh Crog bid that you just referenced. And then contingent upon execution of an accessory.
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