Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : District Can Consider Bid to Build School

The State Allocation Board on Wednesday authorized the school district to consider a $12.6-million bid to build a Canyon Country junior high school, preserving plans for it to open in time for the 1994 school year.

The bid by Berry Construction Inc. of Upland was OKd despite a price tag that will cost the William S. Hart Union School District $50,502 more than a proposal by Bernards Bros. Inc. of San Fernando.

California’s Office of Local Assistance earlier disqualified a submission by Bernards Bros. because the company failed to comply with state requirements to hire subcontractors with minority, female or handicapped veteran employees--or at least make a “good faith effort” to do so.

Ted Gropman, attorney for Bernards Bros. Inc., told Hart district officials that the firm contacted about 250 subcontractors and suppliers but only documented those who responded with bids.

Hart trustees voted Aug. 11 to forward a protest by Bernards Bros., but it was not officially considered by the State Allocation Board on Wednesday because the district itself did not file an appeal. Judith Larson, who monitors State Allocation Board action on behalf of the district, said the objection would only have been addressed if raised directly by Hart officials.

Hart officials said they were more concerned with keeping the unnamed junior high school on schedule for construction than the higher bid cost. The final construction price is expected to fluctuate during building and the difference between the bids is considered small, relative to the overall expense of the project.

“It was understood early on the district would not do anything to jeopardize the time line of the project,” said Lew White, district facilities director.

The junior high school is scheduled to open in fall, 1994, on a 25-acre site near the intersection of Via Princessa and Rainbow Glen Drive. It will house about 1,000 students.

Grading of the property is expected to be completed in late-September.

The state and the Hart district are splitting the cost of the school construction.

Gropman said companies that contact the largest number of subcontractors will actually be penalized if they are required to document each response, or lack of one, because of the additional time and effort necessary.

In his written protest to the district, Gropman 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, for which the firm followed the same process.

Randall Pitre, attorney for 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,” Pitre said in a letter to the district.