CCSB Accepts $12.4 Million Bid for Gym

RISON - The Cleveland County School Board unanimously approved a “guaranteed maximum price” of $12,393,687 from Clark Construction of Little Rock for building the new gym at the Rison School campus.Hayden Cunningham and Weston Jones of Clark Construction, the company selected by the school board to serve as the construction manager for the project, told the board during tis meeting Monday night that the bids came in higher than expected due to recent inflationary pressures. However, Cunningham said they received 123 bids for the project, which means the bids were very competitive. He told the board that he has never had that many bids submitted for one job in his career.Cunningham explained “guaranteed maximum price” means the cost is guaranteed to be no more than that amount. In many cases, he said the actual cost is less than the guaranteed amount and that money is turned back to the school district.As construction manger, Clark Construction is responsible for securing competitive bids for each part of the construction process, ranging from the general construction of the building itself down to the flooring. The bids from those subcontractors are added together for the overall bid.Cunningham pointed out that the nearly $12.4 million price tag includes construction of the new gym as well as demolition of the existing gym and construction of a new student parking lot in its place. Board member Kelly Taylor initially had some reservations about locking in at the proposed price, citing that costs could change depending on the price of fuel and other factors. Ultimately she voted to accept the bid.The school district is using two funding sources for the project: the $11,498,493 generated by the five-mill tax increase approved by voters last year, and $2,707,623.36 in state partnership money awarded for the gym project. Since the state is providing a little more than $2.7 million for the ...