WILLMAR -- District Judge Michael J. Thompson is considering a contractor's motion to temporarily restrain the city of Willmar from awarding a contract to the low bidder to construct the new wastewater treatment plant.
Thompson took under advisement the motion of second-lowest bidder Gridor Construction of Buffalo. Gridor asked the court to restrain the city from awarding the contract to low-bidder Graham Construction Services of Eagan.
During the nearly two-hour hearing Wednesday afternoon, Gridor's attorney Patrick Neaton of Chanhassen alleged that irregularities and ambiguities in Graham's low bid of $49,100,000 made Graham's bid unresponsive to project specifications.
Gridor's bid was the next lowest at $49,174,000. Engineer's estimate was $50,500,000. Six bids were opened by the city for the project on July 31.
James Thomson of Minneapolis, representing the city, said the city has determined that Graham is the responsive low bidder and should be awarded the contract. Thomson said there were no material mistakes and no ambiguity in the bid form.
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Thomson said the wastewater project is important to the city and said it needs to go forward.
Mark Becker of Minneapolis, an attorney representing Graham, also said there were no irregularities in the company's bid.
Judge Thompson said he would issue a ruling as soon as possible.
The treatment plant and conveyance system are slated to begin operation in late 2010 or early 2011.
The Willmar City Council has delayed awarding the contract to Graham for the treatment plant portion of the project, but has awarded three other contracts for construction of the pressure pipe bringing industrial waste and the gravity interceptor sewer bringing municipal waste to the treatment site, located west of Willmar.
The project's budget is set at $86.2 million.
