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The Duke Street and Virginia Avenue water main replacement project is experiencing a delay after the Windsor Town Council emerged from a lengthy closed session Dec. 13 and voted to reject the bids it received for the project and then voted to rebid the solicitation.

“Town Council voted unanimously to reject all bids in the recent solicitation for the Virginia Avenue/Duke Street water main project, as the scope of the project was not portrayed in some bid documents as expected by the town,” Windsor Town Manager William Saunders stated in a Dec. 14 email.

He noted that the council then voted unanimously to authorize the rebidding of the project solicitation in January, with the bid alternate for open cut of the driveways included, the pre-bid meeting being voluntary rather than mandatory, and other necessary minor revisions.

In the Dec. 13 council meeting packet, Saunders included a staff report stating that the water main replacement project was put out to bid Oct. 18, and due to issues with the commonwealth of Virginia’s eVA purchasing website, the deadline for bids was extended from Nov. 17 to Nov. 29.

Saunders also addressed the status of the project during the open session that preceded the closed session.

“As you’re aware, we put out bids for this and received bids on Nov. 29,” he told council members. “Four bids were received, all but one exceeding the engineer’s estimate. Currently the engineers are interviewing the bidders to make a recommendation on the lowest apparent bid, which is responsible and responsive.”

He indicated that town staff had hoped to have the entire package back from the consultants for the Dec. 13 meeting. 

“We did not receive that,” he said. “So it may be the January meeting before we have that in hand, unfortunately. So that’s where we are.”

Later that night, the council made its decisions to reject the bids and restart the bidding process with revisions.