The State Office of General Services is renovating the State Armory at 2 Quincy Place in Yonkers, and it's doing what OGS often does on a job this size: splitting it into separate trade contracts instead of hiring one general contractor to run the whole thing. There's a general-construction package, an electrical package, an HVAC package, and a plumbing package, all under the same project number — 47477 — and all due September 23.

This is a multi-prime bid. Each trade contractor holds its own contract directly with the state, not a subcontract under a GC. It's a New York public-works structure that shows up under the Wicks Law on jobs above a certain size, and it means an HVAC shop or an electrical contractor can win work here without ever partnering with a general contractor at all.

The electrical package (RFI-002457) carries the state's own estimate of $2 million to $3 million, an $81,600 bid deposit, and 34 firms have pulled documents as of September 18. The HVAC package (RFI-002460), also estimated at $2 million to $3 million with an $80,600 deposit, has 38 firms on the plan-holder list — the largest crowd of the four. Plumbing (RFI-002467) is smaller, estimated at $1 million to $2 million with a $53,400 deposit, and has drawn 28 firms so far.

All three packages carry 15% MBE and 15% WBE participation goals. The state's estimate is for information only — it doesn't bind anyone's bid — but a spread like $2 million to $3 million on the electrical and HVAC work gives smaller shops a real target to bid against, rather than guessing blind.

Worth noting for anyone still deciding whether to bid the electrical package: a pre-bid site visit already happened on September 10. If that walkthrough was mandatory, check your firm's attendance before you spend the time pricing this job — a bid from a firm that skipped a mandatory pre-bid doesn't get opened, no matter how good the number is.

Documents for the HVAC and plumbing packages route through third-party plan rooms — a general OGS plans-available list for HVAC, and Bid Express (free registration required) for plumbing. The electrical package requires a free NYS Contract Reporter account. None of these are posted as a simple free download, so build the registration time into your bid schedule this week, not the morning of the 23rd.

With 34 to 38 firms circling each trade package, this isn't a thin field looking for a taker — it's a crowded one. The firms that win here will be the ones who priced the job tight and didn't get tripped up by a plan room login or a walkthrough they missed.