The New York State Office of General Services opened bids September 2 on contract M3220-E, the electrical package for "Provide Emergency Power Improvements" at the Farmingdale Training Site, 25 Baiting Place Road in Farmingdale, Suffolk County. Eleven electrical contractors turned in numbers. The state ranked ten of them and listed the eleventh below the line as disqualified.
ABM Electric Inc. of Long Island City is the apparent low at $2,755,555. E-J Electric Installation Company is second at $3,266,000, Bana Electric Corp. third at $3,719,000, then Interphase Electric Corp. at $3,749,137, Commander Electric at $3,882,000, Sajiun Electric at $3,897,800, L.E.B. Electric at $3,974,000, Hinck Electrical Contractor at $4,871,900, PJS Electric at $5,455,426 and Javelin Electric at $6,295,000. Maraj Electric's $4,613,110 sits under the ranked list.
Run the tab. From ABM's low to Javelin's high on the ranked list is $3,539,445, a spread of 128.4 percent: the high number is more than double the low. The gap between first and second is $510,445, or 18.5 percent. The middle of the field is tight, though. Five bids, from Bana through L.E.B., land between $3.72 million and $3.97 million, a band of about $255,000. ABM priced this job well below where most of the room priced it.
The flags are in the state's own tab, and they are not all the same. E-J Electric is marked for an outdated financial statement of surety. Bana and PJS are marked for an incomplete form with no financial statement of surety. Commander and Hinck carry an informality for a Department of Labor registration number that was incorrect or missing on the bid form. Javelin is marked for an incomplete bid form. Maraj is the one bid the tab labels disqualified outright, with the reason given as contractor not registered on the NYS DOL registry. ABM's low carries no code. The state posts these results as unofficial and for information only, and an apparent low is not an award until the state makes one. The results page lists no estimate and no M/WBE or SDVOB goals.
Why this matters. Eleven electrical shops chased a state emergency power job on Long Island, which tells you how much appetite there is for this work right now. It also tells you how many bids go sideways on paper before anyone reads the number. A surety financial statement that is out of date, a DOL registration number left off a form, a registry filing that never happened: those are the things that push a bid below the line. It was not a one-job pattern that day, either. On the Albion Correctional Facility steam-line electrical package, M3217-E, opened the same September 2, OGS coded the lowest of four bids for an incomplete bid form.
What to do next. If you are an electrical sub, supplier or gear house, ABM is the name to call about this job, but wait for OGS to make the award before you treat it as done. If you bid state work at all, pull your own file now: confirm your registration on the NYS Department of Labor public work contractor registry is current, put that registration number on the bid form, and make sure the financial statement from your surety is the current one. Those items flagged seven of eleven bidders on this tab.
The electrical package is the only trade posted for this contract on the state's results page. Watch OGS for the award.