ELKVIEW, W.Va. — The bids are in for the site preparation contract for the new Herbert Hoover High School.
The bidding process opened on Wednesday afternoon at Kanawha County School’s Crede location off the Mink Shoals exit on Interstate-79.
Kanawha County Schools spokesperson Briana Warner told MetroNews that the five bids to help rebuild the flood-ravaged school are currently under review by the school system.
“The staff has to review each bid and make sure each has met the RFP (request for proposal) specifications,” she said. “If not, some of those bids may be removed. So for right now, we are in that review process.”
Warner said the school system’s Board of Education has a special session meeting tentatively scheduled for Monday to address the bids for the estimated budgeted site prep work of $25 million.
Alan Cummings, the Kanawha County Schools Purchasing Director is overseeing the bidding and review process.
The school system hopes to gather as much information as possible through the rest of the week to make quick decisions. Herbert Hoover High School was destroyed in the June 2016 floods at its location along the Elk River and students have been in portables since.
“We know that every day is important so we want to move as quickly as possible,” Warner said. “The number of bids does affect how quickly they are able to review and compare to RFP specs.”
Kanawha County Schools paid more than $3 million for the proposed site earlier this year. The site is 246 acres in the Givens Fork area, land previously owned by Elkview Baptist Church. It’s not far from the Elkview exit of Interstate 79.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released $52.3 million for the complete project last week.
Warner said it will be up to the awarded contractor on when dirt will begin to move on the sit but the bidders know, “that it needs to be as quickly as possible.”
Putnam County Senator Glenn Jeffries, who serves the district, said this week he expects work to begin as early as January.
A contract for the building package is expected to be put out for bid in Summer 2020.