Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Builder to Appeal Rejection of Bid to Construct School

A San Fernando-based construction firm is protesting the state’s rejection of its bid to build a junior high school in Canyon Country.

William S. Hart Union High School District trustees Wednesday authorized forwarding of the appeal by Bernards Bros. Inc. to the State Allocation Board.

“We feel we should support, as a school district, their right to a second opinion,” said Lew White, district facilities director.

The junior high school is scheduled to open in the fall of 1994 on a 25-acre site near the intersection of Via Princessa and Rainbow Glen Drive. A name has not been chosen for the 1,000-student-capacity school.

The allocation board is scheduled to hear the appeal Aug. 25. Grading of the property is expected to be completed in late September, so construction will not be delayed as long as a ruling is completed before then, Hart District Supt. Walter Swanson said.

California’s Office of Local Assistance disqualified the Bernards Bros. bid for failing to comply with state requirements that a firm hire subcontractors with minority, female or handicapped veteran employees--or at least make a “good faith effort” to do so.

State requirements change regularly, making the bid rejections common, White said.

The disqualification prompted the Hart district to accept the bid submitted by Berry Construction Inc. of Upland. Both bids came in at around $12 million, with Bernards Bros. offering an estimate that would cost the district $50,502 less.

Although the final cost for construction is expected to fluctuate during building and the difference between the bids is small relative to the overall expense of the project, Swanson said it is important to go with the lowest eligible bid-- both for the district and to be consistent for contractors.

California and the Hart district are splitting the cost of the school’s construction.

A representative of Bernards Bros. says the company has met the state requirements.

Ted Gropman, attorney for Bernards, said the firm actually contacted about 250 subcontractors and suppliers but only documented those who responded with bids.

He also cited state approval in February for a Bernards Bros. bid to build an elementary school in the Chino Unified School District in San Bernardino County. He said Bernards Bros. followed the same process of contacting subcontractors for that bid as it has for the Hart school bid.

Berry Construction disagreed.

“If William S. Hart Union High School District does not reject the bid of Bernards Bros., then it is permitting one contractor to meet a different and lesser stand for submitting bids. Clearly, such action is not appropriate, or fair,” said Randall Pitre, attorney for Berry Construction, in a letter to the district.