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GROSSE POINTE PARK — While soliciting competitive bids and awarding contracts to a qualified contractor with the lowest bid is standard practice for municipalities, sometimes a better price can be had by not bidding out a project.
That appears to be the case with upcoming water main improvements in Grosse Pointe Park this year.
Plymouth-based Bidigare Contractors Inc. — who worked on the Park’s water main improvement program last year — offered to extend its 2024 pricing to the city to continue that work in 2025. Department of Public Works Director Tom Jenny recommended council approval of the contract extension, as did the city’s engineers.
“I feel we have a highly qualified vendor at an appropriate price,” City Councilman Timothy Kolar said as he advocated for the extension at an April 14 Park City Council meeting.
The council agreed, voting unanimously in favor of the deal.
“They did a fantastic job last year on Beaconsfield (Avenue),” Jenny said.
Bidigare was hoping to land the Park contract, Jenny said, because the firm is staying in the Pointes this year, tackling other projects.
“They’re a very good company,” Jenny said.
The city’s engineers at OHM Advisors concurred.
“During construction of the 2024 Water Main Improvements Project, Bidigare Contractors Inc. was reliable, efficient, clean, responsive to Owner/Engineer calls and resident concerns, and the water main and service replacements were of good quality,” City Engineer Patrick Droze, of OHM, wrote in an April 1 memo to City Manager Nick Sizeland. “Overall, Bidigare Contractors provided great value and services to the City and its residents.”
In an April 1 memo to Jenny, Jordon Bidigare wrote that the company felt extending its 2024 pricing to the Park in 2025 “could save the city time and money on the bidding process as well as significant cost saving from new unit prices. We value our relationship with the city, and we appreciate the work we have done for the city.”
The exact cost to the city for this project won’t be known until material quantities and design plans are finalized later this year, when the council will review those plans and costs for approval. However, Jenny said the council needed to approve the contract extension now
