Bids for the water main portion of the project to connect Harvard to the Devens public water system were opened April 16, and the news was not good. With the bids for the project over budget, town officials will need to schedule a Special Town Meeting and election to increase funding before bids expire June 30, ask bidders to extend their bids, or start the project with the funds it has and hope the state will increase its low-interest loan to cover the overage.
The lowest bid, $4.26 million, combined with the lowest bid on the pump station part of the project, $1.9 million, totaled just over $1.3 million more than the $4.85 million approved for the project at the Feb.13, 2023 Special Town Meeting and at the polls last spring.
The three pump station bids, opened a week earlier, ranged from $1.9 million to $2.9 million, and the seven water main bids ranged from $4.26 million to about $5.5 million.
Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart and engineer Mary Danielson of Tighe & Bond, the firm designing the project, said they felt good about the number of bids and how close they were. The three lowest water connection bids were within $60,000 of each other.
Town administrators and water commissioners must now figure out what to do next. At a Water Commission meeting April 12, Chair Cindy Russo said the new Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant levels for PFAS (see story on page 1) leave the town with no choice but to come up with more money if bids came in too high.
Danielson told the commission that she expected the water connection part of the project to be higher than estimated, because her firm is seeing higher prices per linear foot on other projects this season. She said there’s a lot of work available, so bidders are being more selective, and that is driving prices up.
Russo asked Town Administrator Tim Bragan if the town could vote to increase funding at a Special Town Meeting, or if a vote at the polls would also be required. Bragan didn’t know, but Finance Director Jared Mullane told the Press that excluded debt, which is how the project is being funded, must be voted on at both Town Meeting and at the polls.
Bragan said a Special Town Meeting could be called with 14 days’ notice. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro told the Press she will meet with Tighe & Bond April 17 to discuss the shortage of funds.
