Dallas County has once again entered into a contract with U.S. Erectors, Inc for the structural steel work on the new law enforcement center.

The contractor was the original low bidder when the Board of Supervisors opened a special bid letting session for the steel package. However, litigation surrounding a general contractor who bid for the entire project in December revealed irregularities in the process. County Attorney Wayne Reisetter said an irregularity in publishing the time for bidding resulted in a violation of Iowa law, so the original contract with U.S. Erectors couldn’t be sustained. Three bids came in on March 1st, and once again U.S. Erectors had the lowest price.

In spite of the extended process, the County will actually end up saving money. U.S. Erectors originally won the project for $861,580. Their second bid came in even lower than that, at $833,600. The Supervisors accepted the bid and approved a contract for the steel work, locking in the price. The price lock was important to them, given the uncertainty of the global trade market for steel due to possible tariff increases. The overall project cost is currently under budget by around $750,000, and there will be more construction activity at the site in the coming weeks.