The City announced that CTA Construction Managers, based in Waltham, has been selected as general contractor for the Lincoln-Eliot School Building Project. CTA Construction Managers has undertaken this role in projects for Brookline High School, West High School, and Concord Middle School and the Willard Elementary School in Concord.
Working with the design team, Arrowstreet, and Owner’s Project Manager, Hill International, the City completed the lengthy prequalification process required by the state to solicit packages from the large number of firms that expressed interest in submitting a bid. Over 100 contractors were pre-qualified, with bids from 48 subcontractors and 3 general contractors .
State law requires the City to award the project to the lowest qualified bidder. Several weeks ago, the City opened bids for trades that will be working for the general contractor.
Regarding the number of bids received, Public Buildings Commissioner Josh Morse said that “the Lincoln-Eliot [bidding] results indicate that competition is coming back to the public sector. Material costs have stabilized for the most part, but labor shortages and lack of bid competition have been rough for the municipal sector for the past few years.”
Morse said that although the cost of the project (currently estimated at $54.8 million) is $4.8 million higher than anticipated, “it is within our financial capacity.”
The City expects students will be able to move into the new building at the start of the 2025-26 school year, with demolition of selected portions of the building to begin in January 2024.
