County seeking library bidders
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 14, 2013 1:46 PM
Requests for qualifications were sent out Thursday afternoon for design/build teams interested in building the new Steele Memorial Library in Mount Olive.
Responses are due back to the Wayne County purchasing manager's office by 2 p.m. July 2. County staff is scheduled to review the responses during the week of July 15. Recommendations will then be sent to the Wayne County commissioners' Facilities Committee.
The committee will review the recommendation before passing along its own report to the full board.
The teams are being asked to include a team profile, members' experience, how the team would approach the job and its understanding of the project.
In design/build, an architect and general contractor form a team that works under one contract with the project owner, in this case the county, to provide both design and construction services.
Local legislation authorizing the use of design/build also placed certain restrictions on the county.
First, the county must pre-qualify and solicit at least three design/build teams to bid on a project. Second, it must receive at least three sealed proposals from those teams.
If three proposals are not received, the county can proceed with the proposals it has received provided the project has been publicly advertised for at least 30 days.
A deadline has not been set as to when the library project might get under way. However, a completion time of 10 months or less is favored because of space limitation at the existing library on Chestnut Street.
The county several years ago purchased the former Belk department store building on West Main Street in Mount Olive for $400,000 from Mount Olive College.
The Steele Memorial Library Steering Committee spearheaded a grassroots fundraiser that raised more than $350,000 to pay for the design work for a project to renovate the 20,218-square-foot building to house the library.
Projects costs are estimated at $120 per square foot for a total of $2,426,160.
The decision to proceed with the requests was made by the Facilities Committee during a brief Thursday afternoon meeting.
The county earlier this month paid $35,000 to RATIO Architects to terminate its contract with the company. The Steele Memorial Library Steering Committee is reimbursing the county for the $35,000.
Once the contract was terminated, RATIO sent its project designs to the county.
Downloadable copies of the project manuals and initial drawings are located on the county website, www.waynegov.com. Navigate to the finance department then policies and forms and finally purchasing policies and forms.