06/20/13 Monday morning the Marshall County Commissioners opened requests for proposals (RFP) from eight companies interested in doing the preliminary design work for the fiber-optic conduit to being the Metronet down from the hotel in Union Station in South Bend to Plymouth.
Members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission opened the same bids on Tuesday evening because they will be funding a good deal of the city’s portion of the project.
The proposals are used to determine the cost estimates for the project and will allow those involved to determine the feasibility of the project. It was noted that with two major subscribers; Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center and Hoosier Tire that Saint Joe Valley Metronet is confident of the project to bring the fiber down to Marshall County and Plymouth.
The proposals were divided into two catagories; (A) is the county portions which would be from the northern county line down to the Plymouth city limits with (B) being the city’s portion having the conduit in and around the city.
The bids were:
Who From A B Total
Abonmarch South Bend $16,700 $16,700 $33,400
Donahue Herzig South Bend $24,000 $24,000
DLZ South Bend $29,000 $26,200 $55,200
Banning Eng. Plainfield $26,962 $32,295 $59,257
USI Consultant Indianapolis $22,500 to 27.500 for each $45,000-$55,000
RW Armstrong South Bend $53,300 $34,300 $86,500
USI Corp. Indianapolis $56,250 $43,250 $99,500
JMC Eng. Culver $113,856 $90,360 $204,216
A committee with members including Commissioner Kevin Overmyer, Councilwoman Judy Stone, Mayor Mark Senter, City Engineer Rick Gaul and Redevelopment Commission member Dan Tyree. The committee will review the proposals and make sure they are looking at apples to apples and not apples and oranges.