A Marblehead Public Schools subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend awarding the general-contractor contract to Homer Construction and to omit a proposed liquid-applied roof alternate that would have added roughly $2 million to the construction cost.

The committee reviewed filed sub-bids and general bids at its meeting, heard a short presentation from the project presenter and considered a technical comparison supplied by Garland. "All of the contractors that were submitted were prequalified. They all acknowledged all the addenda. They signed their bid forms," the presenter said during the meeting.

Jean Raymond, who introduced a summary table the team received from Garland, said the bids as submitted put the construction line about $2.1 million below the budget figure in the project estimate and that accepting the liquid-applied alternate still appeared to leave the construction line roughly $50,000 under budget by his calculation. "We did we did receive this from Garland unsolicited, and I don't have any reason to doubt it," Raymond said.

Committee members focused discussion on the roofing alternate. Manufacturer materials relayed during the meeting described the liquid-applied system as a single, thicker membrane with greater tear resistance and fewer welded seams compared with PVC membrane systems, and noted potential advantages such as reduced noise and odor during installation. Some members, however, said the market signaled a wide variance in how roof subcontractors priced the alternate — with some bidders offering a deduct and others a significant add — and cautioned public-procurement rules limit the owner’s ability to reconfigure base bid assumptions after bids are received.

An attendee observed that two roofing bids (Triumph and Corolla) were submitted by nonqualified firms and therefore could not be accepted, leaving only three qualifying roofing subcontractor bids; because the project’s estimated cost exceeds $10 million, prequalification is required under state procurement rules, the attendee said. "We actually only got 3 bids for the roofing," the attendee said, adding that the design–bid–build procurement approach forces each general contractor to carry a single subcontractor for a trade rather than mix-and-match alternates.

Given those constraints and the size of the price difference, members coalesced around awarding the contract to the low bidder and not adopting the liquid-applied roof alternate now. The chair stated the committee would "recommend the bid from Homer Construction without the alternate to the school committee for approval," and the committee approved the recommendation by roll call, 7-0.

Committee members also pressed for active installation oversight. Several urged periodic QA/QC checks while work is underway so the installed membrane and critical details match the contract drawings and specifications. Project management staff said monitoring construction progress and reviewing submittals is within the owner's project manager and RDA scope, and invited committee members to participate in site reviews.

The committee chair said the recommendation will be presented to the full school committee at its Thursday evening meeting and then sought from the select board the final contract approval, with a target of select-board action before Dec. 1 to keep the construction schedule on track. The subcommittee adjourned at 1:44 p.m.

What happens next: the full Marblehead Public Schools committee will receive the recommendation Thursday; final contract award requires subsequent select-board approval according to the timeline discussed at the meeting.