Rio Arriba County plans to pay an Española business almost $250,000 more than a Taos County company’s original bid to rebuild the Brazos Canyon Fire Station because the latter company submitted a bid that was deemed too low.
When the initial bid proposals were opened June 26, three companies had bid: Southwest CM LLC, of Taos; Blue Sky Builders, of Española and MV Industries, of Albuquerque. The low bid of $295,370, submitted by Southwest raised a “red flag,” County Grants and Contracts Administrator Phillip Morfin said. MV Industries bid $473,171. Blue Sky bid $466,700.
Because of design problems and a bid offered by Southwest was considered suspiciously low by County officials, the County rebid the project. Only Blue Sky responded. The second bid Blue Sky Builders submitted exceeds its first bid by $72,300, County documents state. Changes to the architectural plans are responsible for part of that increase, but Assistant County Manager Tomas Campos said the increase is mainly due to the price of metal going up during the past two months.
“That’s what we get for waiting,” he said.