The Red River Parish School Board held a special meeting on Thursday morning to look at the bids for construction of a new Central Office.  It will be located just south of Bulldog Drive in the new Education/Sports complex.

Superintendent Alison Hughes explained that prior bids submitted have been too high for their budget.  She told the board that there have been negotiations with bidders on the project to get the price within budget.

Originally there were two projects in addition to the Central Office.  They were the bus barn and a central warehouse.  These two were taken out of this round of bidding and other changes were made to the Central Office to save money.

Hughes said, We will get everything that is essential in the new building, however changes were made that will result in savings.”  One example the Superintendent gave was the audio-visual equipment.  Hughes said that would have cost about $800,000 if included in the bidding.  They will buy the equipment later and it will only cost about $200,000 at that time.

The first motion was to award the contract for the office to CDI Contractors, LLC in the amount of $8,570,000.  It passed with one “nay” vote.  Board member Casandra White was absent and member Gene Longino voted against it.

The second motion was to adopt change orders to remove the two smaller projects from the main building.  Board members present, with the exception of Longino, voted for the resolution.

The summary of the bids submitted is attached.  Note that only the Base Bid from CDI Contractors, LLC was accepted by the Board on Thursday.