Batson-Cook Construction's bid of $12.9 million, the cheapest of four bids, is still $1.3 million higher than the project's estimated base bid for construction cost of $11.6 million, making it the first bid to be over an estimate this year for campus construction projects.
But Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for planning and construction, said the bid is reasonable.
"We believe part of the higher bid has to do with the confined area and difficulty of construction involved with Memorial Hall," he said.
Money for the project comes from multiple sources, including University fund raising, state funds and money from the state's $3.1 billion higher education bond referendum passed in November 2000.
The University received about $500 million from the bond package, $9.2 million of which is going to the Memorial Hall project. The total estimated budget for the project is about $15 million.
A facilities planning and construction committee on which Runberg serves as an adviser recently agreed unanimously to use a contingency fund from the bond referendum to help pay for the project's higher cost.
"The contingency fund is used to manage programs and to provide for other expenses such as unusual situations like this one," Runberg said.
But before committee members agree to the bid, they will meet with Batson-Cook to see where differences in cost arose and to make sure the bid is fair.
"We need to evaluate the bid and make sure the bidder is responsible and responsive," Runberg said. "Evaluation is a crucial part of this project. We need to make sure we are comfortable with the bid even though it is over the estimate."
