West Virginia State Park officials have rejected two construction bids for a promised expansion project at Cacapon State Park, but say they will seek a third round of bids this month.
Bids for the expansion of the Cacapon State Park lodge and upgrades to the existing lodge, plus associated infrastructure improvements, were received by the state’s Division of Natural Resources (DNR) on May 17.
DNR Chief Steve McDaniel told The Morgan Messenger that one of the bids was rejected because it didn’t meet the technical requirements of the bid. The second qualifying bid was rejected because costs were too high. Both bidders set projects costs at more than $29 million.
The state has $25 million in bond proceeds to spend on the Cacapon upgrades, said McDaniel.
Paramount Builders of St. Albans, W.Va. submitted a bid for $29,450,575 to build a new section onto the lodge, renovate the existing lodge and dining room and upgrade paving and other utilities.
Waynesboro Construction Co., Inc. of Frederick, Md. estimated construction costs at $29,984,000.
Both bids included a base bid plus four deductive alternates – extra work associated with the project.
Those extra projects including: renovation of existing guest rooms in the lodge, replacement of wood windows in guest rooms, painting the exterior of the current lodge and installing a video surveillance system for the lodge complex.
Paramount’s base bid was $26,770,000. Waynesboro’s base bid was $26,439,175.
McDaniel said the state will work to trim back some items from the construction plans in order to seek bids that fall within the state’s budget.
Bidding will be open to all construction companies that qualify, he said, not just the two companies that bid during this round.
In 2013, the state got bids and selected a construction company for the project. But funding fell through for the park improvements at that time.
McDaniel said the project will get done.
“It will get built. We’re going to spend $25 million at Cacapon. I don’t want to give the money back,” said McDaniel. “It will start this summer.”
He said the DNR intends to put the revised construction bid documents out this month for companies to evaluate. There isn’t a bid deadline set yet. He said once the request for proposals is posted, bidders normally have 30 days to respond.
McDaniel said he knows how important the Cacapon State Park project is to the area.
“We’re building that lodge,” he said.
