The low bidder was selected Friday to construct the Kansas City Chiefs' indoor practice facility on the campus of Missouri Western State University.
Crossland Construction, based in Columbus, Kan., submitted a base bid of $9.4 million, the lowest of 14 general contractors to vie for the building project. Jeff Ellison, lead architect on the project, recommended to Western's governing board to accept seven of eight alternate bids Crossland submitted, which brings the total to $10.3 million.
The alternate bid not included - a pre-engineered metal building frame (also called a Butler frame) - would lower the building cost by $218,000. Mr. Ellison said a custom frame, which is more costly and what they are currently considering, is aesthetically more pleasing and easier to build around.
All seven members of the Board of Governors voted to award the project to Crossland, in a telephone poll Friday afternoon.
Mr. Ellison said Crossland indicated that it will use six local subcontractors to work on the structure. However, a list of subcontractors will not be made public until Crossland has completed its legal work with them.
The $13.7 million total project cost is being paid for by city, county and mostly Chiefs' funding. But since Tuesday, when it was revealed that Crossland submitted the low bid, there has been concern that local workers wouldn't be involved in the project. Dr. Bob Vartabedian, president of Western, noted that state guidelines prohibit giving preference to a specific contractor, local or out-of-town.
"We have to choose the best and lowest bid," he said.
But the lowest bidder must also prove it is capable of completing the project satisfactorily. Mr. Ellison said in projects where public money is involved, price gets the first look. Beyond that, he did a background check on Crossland and didn't find any red flags.
"They have an impressive list of projects," he said. "They certainly seem qualified for ours."
Dr. Vartabedian also went through a folder of information on Crossland and is confident Crossland can do the work, and in a timely fashion.
The Board of Governors meet Thursday and will ratify the decision then.
Construction is slated to begin July 1 and will be completed by July 5, 2010. For more information about Crossland Construction, visit http://www.crosslandconstruction.com/.
Jimmy Myers can be reached
at jimmym@npgco.com.
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wr49tm says...
What had the potential to be a fabulous addition to St Joe has sadly turned into a fiasco.
1) A 5-yr commitment is clearly not a long-term investment nor vote of confidence on the part of the Chiefs to stay in Joetown.
2) This contract going to a KS company demonstrates how development funds will not be stimulating our economy. Sure, construction workers will spend a few dollars eating out or staying in hotels, but let's be honest, this isn't really the great stimulator many were looking for.
I'm hoping this facility will be built in a way that will be conducive to community use once the Chiefs vacate, especially since it was imperative to have "highwawy" visibility.
St Joe has the potential to have a versatile building built to house many community activities; I am positively hoping that they will take this opportunity to harness that concept.
June 20, 2009 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goobentrot says...
I hope a lot who post on here don't represent a majority in this city. They seem to have it backwards. Boo to a NFL training camp here and Yea to a deacaying downtown. When done with downtown lets get started on mt. Mora Cemetary.
June 20, 2009 at 10:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
attaboy says...
well the local contractors got what they should have received nothing the lowest local was fifth. need to spend money wisely you don't pick the local guy and spend 700k more.
June 20, 2009 at 10:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RJW says...
wr49tm - Keep in mind, Crossland is the general contractor. Most of the work will be done by sub-contractors. A majority of those will likely be local.
June 20, 2009 at 10:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
falcon says...
A friend in the business says Crossland has most of its major subs in its own organization, that the work for local subs will be relatively inconsequential. Keep an eye open when the subs are announced. It's too bad the local bidders were not able to be more competitive, since this is a prevailing wage situation. With this huge spread in bids, Western was left with no choice.
June 20, 2009 at 12:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
farmcats04 says...
Stay in River Falls. I hope the Chiefs decide to stay in Wisconsin. I also hope the 7 board members who voted for this ought to have their jobs taken away from them and given to a person from another town and out of state.
This is a slap in the face to all construction workers Union and Non-Union in the good old midland empire. If you don't work in construction you have no idea what this means to all of us and need to keep your mouth shut
June 20, 2009 at 5:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RJW says...
Well farmcat, let me tell you what I do know as a customer.
I've constructed three commercial buildings in this town of varying sizes. Almost every one the bids I've received from local contractors was so ridiculously overpriced, I was left wondering if it was fraud, gross incompetence, or they simply didn't want the work.
June 20, 2009 at 7:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
deerslayer1967 says...
farmcats04, I have a bit of construction experience so I choose not to "keep your mouth shut". Hopefully, I can address your anger, or misunderstanding/ignorance as to how things work. This job is a state job, not a city job where you get the 10% break on bids.
Crossland can't get local subs that are paid huge union wages in order to make their low bid. They will have to go non-union or bring their own. I worked in road construction in high school and college, dirt work and asphalt mostly. The company I worked for was out of Kansas, I got paid $6.50 per hour for a laborer in Kansas, $10.00 for a scraper operator or dump truck driver. This was Kansas scale wages so it was up to the state what I got paid, not the company, but they could have paid me more if they wanted. When we got a Missouri job, the Kansas company had to pay me $12.00 per hour as a laborer, plus I got a "little" check of $2.35 per hour to make up for union benefits (insurance, etc.) that I didn't receive since I wasn't in the union. given a 72 hour work week, that wasn't exactly a "little" check. that was back in 1987. I'm sure it is still the same today. the kansas/Crossland workers will be making close to union money without being in the union, but it will still be cheaper for Crossland and the workers because they don't have dues. Hopefully Crossland has insurance which my company didn't. But a job is a job. which brings the question, why do you need a union if you get the same wages and benefits without paying dues? Unless being in the union is a protection from lack of productivity.
Mo western has to follow the rules of the "lowest bidder". You can't blame them, either.
by the way, my 8 years in the sun and road construction led me to believe that getting a degree was a much better route...pops you out there?
June 20, 2009 at 7:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
deerslayer1967 says...
falcon rightly brings up "prevailing wage situation". I would add that scale=prevailing wages. The state whether it be kansas or missouri gives a dollar value to a particular job as a minimal dollar figure that a company has to pay an individual for a particular job. Some companies can give the minimum (scale) to a worker, or maybe give them a bit more. If you are a company that gives the minimum (scale), then you have an advantage.
June 20, 2009 at 7:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
farmcats04 says...
Deer slayer and the others not in construction.
The workers from crossland will have to be paid prevailing wages(local union wages). What they do is bring up a bunch of Mexicans, most do not speak english, and they will pay them the lowest laborer scale, they will have them running conduit and wires for the electricians, running water and sewer pipes for the pipefitters. they will have a couple of guys knowing whats going on to hook the stuff up. The rest of the job will look like someone had a half-assed idea with little or no craftsmenship.
Instead of paying them the proper scale for the proper job. That's one of the ways they do it. My favorite thing they do is they make you pay them back in cash after you get your paycheck. I know I have had some of my friends go in and work for outfits like this, thats what they do.. What gets me why not hire local non-union. That would be a little easier to swallow than an out of state company who does not live here, shop here, pay taxes here. Lets preted you are going to have a wedding reception for your child who is getting married. Are you going to call a pizza hut(non-union) or a caterer(union) when you want it done right it should be an easy choice.
I hope you all non-union people enjoy working 40 hours a week with weekends and holidays off. Overtime pay. Sick leave, paid holidays, or vacation, retirement benefits and health insurance. You can go thank a union member because we fought to get where we are today, and get us a few of these benefits. Where did you think all this stuff came from, It just fell out of a tree, no , our ancestors fought for many of the rights we have today.
June 22, 2009 at 10:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )