The bid that was awarded to Rasp Construction last month for the Sierra Center Mall renovation project was deemed non-responsive and all bids were rejected. Bids will now be re-solicited for this Mono County project.

The project has been in the design stage for a couple years, and the construction bid was finally awarded in March but one of the losing bidders raised a technical error with the bid and threatened litigation against the county should they continue working with Rasp.

Desert Ranger Construction, the next lowest bidder, pointed out that Rasp had not listed a subcontractor for the fire sprinklers, which is required by law. Rasp had included the cost of the sprinklers in their bid, but did not list the sub.

Rasp Construction is out of Bishop, and 4 out of 5 of their subs were from the area. Desert Ranger is from Rancho Mirage, and none of their subs were from the area.

The board had the option of canceling the award and awarding it to Desert Ranger, of waving the error and continuing on with Rasp (under the threat of litigation). Considering the lengthy delays any litigation would cause, the Board decided to reject all bids and put the project out to bid once again.

Each of the 4 contractors who submitted sealed bids now know their competitors bid amounts. How that might affect the next round of bids remains unknown.

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