CARLSBORG — Clallam County Public Utility District commissioners have awarded a $3.2 million bid to a Skagit County company to build an 11,640-square-foot operations building in Forks.
District commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to award a contract to Interwest Construction, Inc. of Burlington, the lowest of four bidders.
The West End operations building at 241 Industrial Center near the existing PUD equipment building will have new mechanical and electrical systems and a standby generator housed in a wood-framed, single-story structure built on a concrete slab with metal siding and a metal roof, PUD officials said.
It will complete a multi-year build-out of PUD facilities in Carlsborg and Forks.
“It puts us in a good shape for the future for another 40, 50 years or more with our facilities, depending on growth, of course,” General Manager Doug Nass told PUD commissioners Monday.
District officials say they hope to begin construction in April and complete the work in 305 days.
The engineer’s estimate for the project was $4.5 million, Assistant General Manager John Purvis said.
Purvis said preliminary work performed by Project Manager Bill Decker and other staff should keep change orders, or cost overruns, to a minimum.
“We do not expect many of those due to the work that’s been put into this over the last year,” Purvis said.
“There were three change orders, I believe, on the Forks equipment building, and we’re going to get that down to zero if at all possible.
“There hasn’t been a change order in the last three or four contract electrical projects, and we hope that this will be the first facility that doesn’t have any,” Purvis added.
Site work includes clearing, grading and fill, new base materials, gravel surfacing, pavement, new utilities and storm drainage systems, Decker said in a memo to the board.
Eight of the 16 subcontractors on the project are local companies, Purvis said.
The bid prices ranged from $3.2 million to $4.4 million.
“I think the Forks facility is well overdue,” district Commissioner Will Purser said.
“It was pretty shabby out there.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
