City awards water line contract

After three months of wrangling, including a bid protest that completely overturned the city's "request for proposal" system, the contract to upgrade the Hood Avenue/First Street water line was awarded to JAL Construction from Bend. The winning bid was $243,744.

The original competition for the project was settled in early March with Robinson & Owen Heavy Construction selected on a point system as the winning contractor. At the time the R&O bid was $253,702.

The original bid award was appealed by the number-three bidder, Bartels Construction of Powell Butte, who had submitted the lowest price bid.

Based on the appeal, and acting on the advice of attorney Steve Bryant, the city council contract review board threw out all the bids.

Due to the delayed start of the project, Public Works Director Paul Bertagna modified the bid criteria to meet a timeline that fits the work to the Sisters Rodeo week requirements. The winning bid includes a communication plan to keep local merchants up-to-date on the construction progress, a blackout for the three days of the rodeo, a requirement for night work (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.) with weekend blackouts, and the completion of the Cascade Avenue piece of the project first.