When the borough went out to bid to replace the dilapidated Meyers Chuck dock, there were four or five interested parties. When bids closed on Aug. 13, however, the borough received not a single one.
After some delays in the project, the borough hoped to begin procurement for the dock’s new floats late this year. Ideally, construction and installation of the new 200-foot dock would take place next summer. The two-part project was estimated to cost $2.5 million, of which Wrangell would only have to pay $1.4 million thanks to a $1.1 million state grant.
However, the lack of bids is likely not going to delay the project too much, according to Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad.
One of the reasons the borough received no valid offers was due to mail delays, as bids arrived at City Hall after the deadline passed.
Mail delays were only partially responsible. To further understand why other interested contractors declined to bid on the project, PND Engineers, the design contractors for the dock, “reached out to those parties who had previously expressed interest in the project to learn of their reason for not bidding,” Al-Haddad said.
She described the lack of bids as “very disappointing and very surprising,” but continues to look forward to moving ahead with the project. The borough will rebid the project and Al-Haddad is going to request the assembly accept future bids via email in order to prevent the mail delay issue from occurring again.
Meyers Chuck became part of the Wrangell borough in 2008. The state turned over the dock to the borough in 2014.
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