'Were you aware of this opportunity?' RI wants to know why no one bid to rebuild Washington Bridge
Rhode Island transportation officials want to avoid a repeat of their failed search for proposals to rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge and are asking contractors what turned them off about the previous procurement.
In a Request For Information posted Friday, the Department of Transportation seeks to find out why no firm bid submitted a bid at the start of this month to the initial Request for Proposals
Responses from the construction industry are due by Aug. 2.
Among the questions the DOT is seeking answers to:
"Were you aware of this RFP / opportunity?"
"What aspects of the proposal did you find most attractive?"
"Was the time provided in the RFP for the various procurement milestones a significant consideration in your decision not to bid?"
"Was the time provided in the RFP for construction completion a significant consideration in your decision not to bid?"
"Were any items included within the scope of work or base technical concept for the project considered to be too high risk?"
The Request for Information also asks the industry whether the "design-build" contracting method used in the initial RFP is the best way to go about the Washington Bridge rebuild, which was prompted by the current bridge being found in danger of structural collapse last December.
And it gives contractors space to opine on whether "any other aspects of the solicitation" happened to have "a level of risk that contributed to the decision not to" bid.
The state is currently pursuing lawsuits against one of more firms involved in previous Washington Bridge projects to recoup some of the costs for having to tear it down.
State back at square one for Washington Bridge rebuild
The lack of any bids earlier this month left the state at square one on the replacement project seven months after problems on the bridge were discovered, with no estimate of how much the rebuild will cost or how long it will take.
In March, when McKee announced that the westbound Washington Bridge would be torn down, the state estimated demolition and reconstruction would cost no more than $300 million and the new bridge could reopen by August 2026.
The estimated cost rose to $408 million in May and this month, Governor Dan McKee said a new public estimate would only come when a bid was in.
The Request For Information says contractors should not include any firm technical or pricing proposals in their responses and wait until the next formal RFP.
It was not immediately clear what information from the new Request For Information will be made public next month when responses come in.
A disclaimer at the end of the request says "proposals WILL NOT be in the public domain."
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Why didn't anyone bid to rebuild the Washington Bridge? State officials want to know.
