A bid has been approved to build the new Daviess County Middle School, and construction is expected to be completed by Dec. 1, 2021.
The Daviess County Public Schools Board of Education awarded the project to Danco Construction, whose bid total was $27.85 million.
DCPS Superintendent Matt Robbins said they had estimated a pre-bid final construction cost of $34.3 million.
“The Danco bid reflects a savings of approximately $6.5 million – almost 20 percent of the amount originally anticipated for this project,” Robbins said.
Construction of the new DCMS is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 1, 2021, with plans for students to begin classes in their new school with the start of the second semester in January 2022. DCMS serves approximately 865 students a year in grades 6-8.
Robbins said he was proud to report that 24 of the 39 contractors on this project are local companies.
“Our district is blessed with outstanding support from a community that understands the importance of education, and we are excited to be able to ‘give back’ and support the local economy and local workers – our friends and neighbors – on this project,” he said. “We are mindful that the timing of this project will be especially beneficial to the rebuilding of our economy.”
DCPS and Danco have worked together in the past with positive results, Robbins said. Danco recently completed the Daviess County High School renovation project and multi-purpose stadium projects at both Apollo and Daviess County high schools.
Robbins said the funding source for this project is a 20-year bond paid by restricted, non-operating revenue that can only be used exclusively for school construction purposes. Education finances are legally restricted into various categories; the funds used for this project cannot be used for staffing, operations or anything other than construction.
The four bids for the project were as follows:
- Danco Construction – $27,850,000
- A & K Construction – $27,911,200
- Envision Contractors – $28,872,000
- Hartz Contracting – $29,327,042
