LULA — The City of Lula hopes to resolve an issue with the firm that was awarded the bid for renovations on the city-owned depot building but didn’t perform the work.
That contractor, RR&B Associates Inc. of Riverdale, was awarded the bid for the work in July. The initial base bid was just more than $156,000, but with city officials opting to add seven of 10 alternates to the bid, the price came in about $200,000, according to City Attorney Joey Homans.
“We had bids and this was the low bidder, RR&B, and then as we proceeded to try and get a contract the contractor refused to execute the contract claiming there was some information that should have been in the bids that wasn’t there, or there was some other ambiguity,” Homans said after Monday night’s city council work session.
But Homans said that is not the case.
“Our engineers who drew the bid disagree, and so we’ve made a claim on the bid bond,” Homans said. “We’re still working through that with the contractor and the bond company.”
Homans said Rindt McDuff Associates, the city’s engineering firm of record, included specifics of the project in the bid and plan documents, and was available to answer questions up until bid opening.
Still, RR&B Associates asserts the city didn’t provide the proper information and is fighting the city’s claim against the bid bond.
“The contractor has asked us to withdraw the claim, but we’ve refused to honor that request,” Homans said.
Other bids for the depot project were from JOMA Commercial in Athens for $420,425 and from Chattahoochee Group of Clermont for $437,030, the bid tabulation sheet from July shows.
