BTDT   You wrote .... Estimated time line includes start of construction to begin in October 2017 with a completion date expected to be in 2019.           
  Then the lake will have to fill and be restocked .. right ?  That will take another 2 years. Now it's 2021.  I wonder what kind of "little fishes" they will put back in the lake?  With 3 or 4 years for the "little fishes" to grow. Now it's 2023 or 2024.   Wow, we maybe ice fishing the winter of  2024/2025.
 
The above paragraph was written while  "laughing and tears running down my face."
 
Later ... Chuckles
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Who got the bid?

Chuckles I'm hoping that the PFBC also will rework the law for the use of motorized vehicles on the ice. By the time Tamarack is fishable I'll be needin' sumbody ta drive my asz onto the ice.... and hopefully back home again.😋


Tippe I can't answer who got the bid but I will say, if the bids were let out in August and work is to commence in October. I have a feeling it will be a "already known" contractor that has just conveniently finished a project and, his equipment is waiting to move.

Anyway I provided a link to a Meadville newspaper claiming to report updates.

Here it is again.....


https://westmead.org/tamarack-lake-update/

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


Searched the PA emarket sight (not even close to being phone or user friendly) and filed through 20 plus pages finding only one bid under the PFBC agency and that was for fish food.

HOWEVER plenty of contracts awarded through the PGC agency. Just general stuff like this.

Improvements to the surface of Killbuck Rd, o ... Game Commission R C Newman $29998.08
4300560515 08/29/2017 6100043286

Demolition of pheasant pens Western Game Farm Game Commission T & A Skidsteer Service $22117.00

Plus other things like cutting down trees, herbicides And stuff like that.


07/28/2017 6100043242 SE No-Till Native Seed Drill Game Commission Truax Company, Inc. $23544.00
4300552352

07/26/2017 6100042722 Wildlife Conservation Officer Cadet Testing Game Commission EXAMINETICS INC $30915.00
4300552352

07/26/2017 6100042722 Wildlife Conservation Officer Cadet Testing Game Commission EXAMINETICS INC $30915.00

I was just wondering.  You would think it would be a public bid opening with immediate results posted.  We bid some public funded work both as a prime and a sub-prime contractor, and I think it is law that it has to be a public opening, with results posted immediately afterwards.  We are also generally required to name our subs within a certain deadline.  We are in WV, but I would think it would be something all the states would have to do.
 
 

Tippe I cannot say for certain that the bids for Tamarack haven't been opened|awarded but the info wasn't listed on the emarket sight. Darned sight is not at all phone friendly so I did not search for the proposal itself. I question the time line from bid opens to project start. If the winning (low bid) contractor cannot meet the start date specified the contract can be awarded to whoever can, regardless of the cost. Contracts usually specify who a subcontractor must hire. eg; union, years of experience, pay rate, etc

The owner (PA) reserves the right to reject all or any part of the bid.

Or delay a project by rebidding.

PA can easily say the bids exceeded the budget, which was set back in 2012.

Though most contractors would stay within that limit then exceed the bid with change-orders and cost overruns.

Looks like they found a loophole to the public bid. 
http://www.dgs.pa.gov/Businesses/Design-and-Construction/Documents/BV%20Determination%20Decision%20Memo%20DGS%20A199-84.pdf
 

Crawlerman thanks for the link. I tried to copy the info and paste it in this thread but the PDF won't allow it.

STUPID PDF.

I hope the state doesn't use this as a excuse to further delay the project.

crawlerman2
Looks like they found a loophole to the public bid. 
http://www.dgs.pa.gov/Businesses/Design-and-Construction/Documents/BV%20Determination%20Decision%20Memo%20DGS%20A199-84.pdf
 

That really sets the table for corruption.  Good gravy.
 
As a PM, I have seen a few bids recently where it was obvious a contractor was "selected" by wording similar to this, but they were never publicly funded jobs. Some of the owners(and generals/construction management firms) we work with have broken the bidding into phases on larger projects.  Approval to bid, actual competitive bid, and interviews with the project managers and estimators involved in the bid are becoming commonplace.  They then weigh the options (pick their homies), and go from there with the project award based on the more "qualitative" aspects of the contractors.  It is crooked, but it is also private money, and the owners can do whatever they want to do.
 
There is always information in bidding documents and specs regarding the fitness of a contractor for performance of work being bid.  There could have easily been a contractor qualification approval time period (let's say 2 months, it IS the Government we are talking about here, LoL), to see who would be fit (no doubt many from Pittsburgh to Erie), and still have a competitive bid.  That is by far the stinkiest part of this. 
 
As far as the emergency plan, that isn't a bad thing at all, and really isn't beyond typical on any major project like this.  I want this place done right, and safely for both the public and the contractor.  I also want it done fairly for whomever the contractor is, and for the customer, US!  That would be the legitimate gripe here.

this lake used to be THE spot for muskies, going to Tamarack was like the poor man's trip to Lake of the Woods. Not many places in PA where you could count on boating multiple skies in a 6 hour day of fishing.