"We tried to negotiate with Prota to find a more agreeable price in there, [but were] unable to do so," Laton Carr, the assistant director of public works utility operations, said. "We thought, 'well, it's just best to reapproach this."
Some context
Round Rock owns and operates a surface water treatment plant with the capacity to treat about 52 million gallons of water per day through three phases. The three phases were built from 1996 to 2003 and require regular maintenance and replacement.
"It's been a while since those things have been in place, and naturally, things age over time," Carr said at a May 20 agenda packet briefing. "This [project] was taking all the things that either reached the end of their useful life or they're kind of approaching it."
Diving deeper
The city advertised the project in October 2024, and set bids for that December. Without receiving any bids, the city extended the deadline to January 2025, when Prota submitted a proposal for $3.2 million.
The city didn't receive many bids because of "the nature of the project," as well as "the market out there," Carr said. With the design engineer estimating the treatment plant improvements at about $2.3 million, Carr said contractors may be pursuing larger projects.
What's next
This formal rejection of the bid would allow the city to move forward with repackaging the project. The city can then conduct another competitive sealed proposal.
