PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT SHERIFF CHARLES R. GUILLORY

10/03/2023

Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Detention Center Corrections Project.

Keeping you informed:

Alex Deshotel, Project Architect, myself, along with four (4) General Contractors met on September 14, 2023 to open bidding for the jail project. A total of six (6) General Contractors were suppose to place bids but two (2) chose not to. As you can see, funds available for construction were set at 18 million dollars. All bids submitted were approximately 10 to 11 million dollars higher than projected. Similar jail project bids average approximately $400 to $470 sq. ft. The bids presented were well over $660 per sq. ft. after much discussion with the architectural firm, I rejected all bids presented.

What this means?

We will re-bid in January 2024.
Since there was only one (1) mechanical contractor bidding, that along elevated the general bid by 7-8 million dollars. The architectural firm will ensure more bidders.
We will make changes to the construction project without effecting bed count or overall jail design.
We will reach out a little further to attract more General Jail Contractors for more competition.
Lastly, these bids presented could not be accepted. First of all, I checked with another Sheriff Jail project that is in the bidding process which that bid came in at $470 sq. ft. in June 2023. In the best interest of protecting our tax payer money, I felt they were trying to take advantage of making huge profits. So, again I declined all bids presented.

Evangeline Parish Detention Center Jail will be built and we will continue to more forward to get it completed.

Sheriff Charles R. Guillory