Posted on August 2, 2020
EMERALD ISLE — Carteret County will have to wait until Monday, Aug. 10 to open bids and perhaps award a contract for the next Bogue Banks beach nourishment project.
In an email late Thursday afternoon, Greg Rudolph, manager of the County Shore Protection Office, said only two bids were received from contractors by the deadline earlier in the day. State law requires three bids before any can be opened in the first round of a contract-award process.
“We received two bids today (Great Lakes Dredge and Dock & Weeks Marine),” Mr. Rudolph said in the email. “(We) will re-advertise the bid solicitation and can open any … received” by Aug. 10.
Great Lakes, based in Illinois, has handled the last two Bogue Banks projects. Weeks is based in New Jersey.
Bids received by Aug. 10 will be opened at 4:30 p.m. that day in the Emerald Isle Board of Commissioners’ meeting room beside the police department on the north side of Highway 58.
“We were hoping Manson Construction (of Seattle) would provide a bid today, but no problem. We will ready to launch on August 10,” Mr. Rudolph added.
Once the bids are opened, it will be up to Mr. Rudolph and his office’s advisory panel, the Carteret County Beach Commission, to decide whether to award a contract.
Mr. Rudolph said the county’s beach engineering firm, Moffatt & Nichol, prepared in advanced for a possible Aug. 10 opening, reducing the time it might have taken to go out for bids again.
The general thought, he said, is that the earlier a project goes out for bid, the lower the bids will be because only a few companies are able to do these projects and they are booked well in advance.
The planned nourishment, known as phase three of the post-Hurricane Florence project, is to include the extreme western portion of Emerald Isle, central Emerald Isle and possibly some erosion “hot-spots” in eastern Emerald Isle.
Mr. Rudolph has estimated phase three, which could involve dredging and placement of up to 2 million cubic yards of sand and start late this year or early next year, could cost as much as $45 million. But he believes an early bid process and contract award will reduce the price.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline
