Bid Award for Aviation Center Delayed

The Torrance City Council last week postponed choosing a construction firm to build the new Torrance General Aviation Center so city officials can study why the low bid is 23% higher than expected.

The decision did not deter the city from holding a groundbreaking ceremony for the project Wednesday afternoon at Torrance Municipal Airport. Invitations to the event had already been mailed, city officials explained.

“It was the next day, and there would have been no way to notify people,” said Philip S. Tilden, management programs administrator with the city manager’s office.

The City Council was expected to accept City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson’s recommendation to accept the low bid of $1.819 million from NOW Construction Corp. of Santa Fe Springs. But after Councilman Bill Applegate raised questions on why the project was over budget, the council decided to take no action Wednesday.

During the next two weeks, the project manager, Kitchell CEM, will look at the cost breakdown to determine why the bids were so high. Kitchell CEM had projected the construction costs would be $1,475,250. But the nine bids received were higher, ranging up to $2.213 million.

The city has budgeted $2,083,925 to build the center, which will include airport administration offices, areas for pilots’ flight training, a lounge and a community meeting room.