DASNY opened 24 bids on February 3 for the CUNY City College of New York Shepard Hall Room 51 Renovation for the STEM Institute and the Rangel Center Infrastructure Workforce Initiative, with associated asbestos abatement, solicitation 3761609999 CR21. DASNY lists the job at 259 Convent Avenue in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan. Precision Group NYC Inc. is the apparent low at $7,850,224. KOKO Contracting is second at $7,883,000.

Next come Vernon Construction & Development at $8,234,000, SRR Holdings $8,278,786, All-Con Contracting $8,438,000, CLS Project Solutions $8,450,000, PB Contracting $8,490,000, Constructomics $8,749,000, APN Construction $8,793,000 and Amcon Contracting $8,981,000. The top three bids were National Environmental Safety Company $11,555,000, ACS System Associates $11,445,000 and Spencer Ice JC LLC $11,265,000. The rest of the field: JRM Construction Management $9,069,000, Cheever Development $9,139,000, Lanmark Group $9,295,000, Stalco Construction $9,670,000, AWL Industries $9,916,000, ABCD Construction $10,149,999, Nikhi Contracting $10,440,000, Atlantic Specialty $10,577,000, Fidelis Contracting $10,656,000, B & R Construction Services $10,995,000 and AKM Construction Services $11,113,000.

Run the tab. First and second are $32,776 apart, 0.4 percent. Low to high is $3,704,776, a 47.2 percent spread, and the median is $9,217,000. DASNY advertised an estimated cost range of $7,100,000 to $7,300,000. The low bid is $550,224 over the top of that range, 7.5 percent, and every one of the 24 bids is over it. Goals are 18 percent MBE, 12 percent WBE and 6 percent SDVOB. An apparent low is not an award.

The space is about 6,232 square feet on the ground floor of Shepard Hall. DASNY's ad calls for flexible classrooms split by a folding wall, shared workspaces behind interior glass, a hands-on project room, a recording room, a conference room, a simulator room, an office, an exhibition room and storage, all wired for educational technology. The work covers partitions, doors, frames, finishes, ceilings and lighting, fire alarm and life safety, electrical, AV and IT cabling, new HVAC distribution as needed, furniture and equipment, and hazardous material removal. One of the tenants is City College's Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative, which the college says it launched in 2022 to train people for careers in construction, transportation and clean energy.

Why this matters. This is the mirror image of most DASNY tabs this season. Here the whole field came in over the owner's number, and the top two agreed within half a percent. When 24 bidders all land above the range, the range was light for this interior, and DASNY has to decide whether it can fund the gap.

What to do next. AV and IT, low-voltage, drywall, ceilings, HVAC distribution, fire alarm and abatement subs should price to both Precision Group NYC and KOKO Contracting until DASNY names the award, given how close they are. The job is RFI-000815 on our board.

Update, Sept. 28, 2026: DASNY's award table shows the contract went to KoKo Contracting Inc. on June 9, 2026, at $7,883,000, the second-lowest bid. The page does not give a reason the apparent low was not awarded.