Five. That's the number that matters here — Chester Union Free School District is bidding its new athletic facility as five separate prime contracts: General, Site, Electrical, Plumbing and Mechanical. Each one needs its own bid, and each one needs its own 10% bid security in the form of a certified check or bid bond.

The facility goes up on the Chester Academy and Chester Elementary campus on Hambletonian Avenue in Chester, Orange County. Sealed bids are due at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, October 29, by mail or dropped off in person at the district office at 64 Hambletonian Avenue.

Prevailing wage applies on this job, and certified payroll records are required — standard for public school work, but plan your paperwork for it now rather than after you've won the bid. The pre-bid conference and site visit already happened, on October 7, so that chance to walk the site has passed.

Splitting a project into five primes instead of one general contract changes who should even be looking at this. A site contractor doesn't need to price electrical, and an electrical shop doesn't need to worry about earthwork — each trade can bid its own piece straight to the district instead of through a GC markup.

Bid documents are free to download from the architect's online plan room, REVplans, through the Biddy platform under public projects — and that plan room is the only way to get listed as an official plan holder and receive addenda, so register there even if you already have a set. Printed sets run $100 as a refundable deposit, returned to anyone who submits a bid. Get your paperwork together before 3:00 p.m. on October 29.

On the record: Proposed Athletic Facility, issued by Chester Union Free School District. Bids are due October 29, 2026 (Sealed bids due 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, by mail or in person at the district office, 64 Hambletonian Avenue. Five prime contracts: General, Site, Electrical, Plumbing and Mechanical.). The listing on Chester UFSD website (Notice to Bidders); documents on the architect's online plan room (REVplans / Biddy, lan.biddyhq.com, under public projects): https://www.chesterufsd.org/fs/resource-manager/view/e1d36777-0690-41f7-88ae-f90c4a9578fa. Full record on The RFI Wire's board: https://therfiwire.com/rfi/RFI-003337.html.