Bids due for $70M sewer upgrade

State rejects initial bid; city missed deadline

TORRINGTON — The city has released documents for the rebidding process of its $70 million sewer upgrade project. New bids are due June 19.

The initial bid document was rejected by the state Department of Energy and Environment because the city missed the April 3 filing deadline.

George Hicks, DEEP’s supervising sanitary engineer, said the wording of two addenda from the first bid have been incorporated into the body of the re-bid document.

Specifically, he said, the first document contained wording that required companies to bid on specified manufacturing equipment. Now, he said, bidders are allowed to price equipment from other manufacturers.

Hicks said he couldn’t predict whether the re-bid process would attract additional interest from contractors. Only one company, Nickerson Engineering of Torrington, submitted a bid for initial bid document. Hicks said since the amount for the first bid is now public, “some may look at it and know they can’t beat the numbers.”

Interested bidders are encouraged by city officials to attend a pre-bid conference at the plant site, 252 Lower Bogue Road, Harwinton, at 10 a.m. May 30.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in late August.

“We have it at the top of our list” for authorization, Hicks said.