Contractor OK’d for  Tumwater’s water resources new office

Olympia-based construction company JA Morris Construction is set to build improvements for the new office of Tumwater’s Water Resources and Sustainability Department.

The Tumwater Public Corks Committee voted to recommend a $273,095 contract with the construction company to the city council last week on January 4.

The new office would be in the Natural Sciences building of South Puget Sound Community College. The department is looking to convert two unused classrooms into their new office.

Dan Smith, director of the water resources and sustainability department, showed the committee the layout of the new office. The two classrooms would be converted into workspaces, with one to be partitioned so that the other half serves as a conference room. Two smaller offices would also be located at the visitors’ entrance.

Smith also explained that for the bidding process, the city utilized the Municipal Research and Services Center’s (MRSC) small works roster, a list of pre-qualified contractors for projects below $350,000.

The city received two formal bids, one from JA Morris Construction and the other from Paasche Construction, for $239,856.

Though the latter company was the low-bidder, Smith said that it was not fully responsive to the city’s requests, leading them to choose JA Morris Construction.

“There was a number of items that were excluded [from Paasche’s bid] that we recognize as necessary to be included in the bid,” Smith explained. “Their statement of values was basically inconsistent with the needs of the project.”