Ok, so get on with the building.
“Ok, so get on with the building.”
The latest announcement of contract award was last Thursday, to start putting electronic gates into the gaps in the bollards left for roads around Brownsville, Texas.
In what seems to be the new norm for small awards (like the four miles in downtown El Paso), the first public notification was the day before groundbreaking.
35 gates are funded for installation, but this award was for the first seven, with an option for four more. Likely it was a small business set-aside.
I am still expecting another award soon South of McAllen, Texas. In November, two contract awards were announced to fill the gaps East and West of McAllen (RGV-02 and RGV-03), with work starting in February. The area in the middle (RGV-01?) has not been announced. It might have already been awarded to another vendor, who has just been more tight-lipped about it.
SLSCO got the other two awards around McAllen, so there may have been a desire or a need to get another vendor working as well.
Another thing I have noticed, is that some of the vendors so far have showed up early for work, once they receive their Notice To Proceed. Although the start of work for the new heavy levee wall barrier in the Rio Grande Valley is scheduled for February, I won’t be surprised if they show up next month (after Christmas). It is an easy way to improve their score as a performer, to help them compete for future work. Also, there are probably financial incentives built in for early delivery.