Nineteen bids came in at 12:14 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, for the NYC School Construction Authority's exterior job at P.S. 149 Danny Kaye, 700 Sutter Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. The top two were $197,000 apart on a $15.7 million job.

The package is SCA solicitation 26-23299D: flood elimination, parapets, roofs, windows and exterior masonry. It's on our board as RFI-000371. CVM Construction Corp was low at $15,700,000. Maven Construction Corp. was second at $15,897,000, a 1.25% gap. SEA BREEZE GENERAL CONSTRUCTION INC. was third at $16,881,000, Whitestone Construction Corp. fourth at $17,871,000 and Army Construction, LLC fifth at $17,981,000. NEELAM CONSTRUCTION CORP. was high at $24,459,000. The spread is 55.8%, and the median bid was $19,824,000, which puts the low 20.8% under the middle.

There's history here, and it's only three weeks old. On May 29 the SCA opened a nearly identical scope at P.S. 190 on Sheffield Avenue, in the same district and the same neighborhood. Army Construction, LLC won that one on price at $19,226,200 with CVM Construction Corp fourth at $20,273,000. This time CVM took the top spot and Army finished fifth. Twelve firms bid both jobs. That's how tight this market is: the same shops trading places job to job.

The school is already on the SCA's list for other work. The February 2025 capital plan amendment budgeted $313,825 for an IP surveillance camera installation at P.S. 149. The exterior job is the big ticket, and it follows the plan's logic that water infiltration is "the single greatest cause of accelerated deterioration" of school buildings. No engineer's estimate was posted with the tab. Apparent low is not an award.

Why this matters. When first and second are 1.25% apart, a sub's number can decide who wins the next one. Two GCs priced this within $197,000 of each other; whoever had the better masonry and roofing quotes is sitting on top.

What to do next. Get your pricing to CVM Construction Corp, and don't drop Maven Construction Corp. until the SCA posts award. If you bid P.S. 190 last month, you already know the building type. Use it.

Update, Sept. 28, 2026: The SCA's bid tabulation for 26-23299D now marks CVM Construction Corp as the awarded bidder. Its named Wicks subcontractors are Franco Belli Plumbing & Heating & Sons, Inc., EON Mechanical Inc. and Tower Electric, Inc.