One bid for WSDOT ferry contract

Yesterday it was deja vue all over again at Washington State DOT Ferries Division.

It held a bids (plural) opening ceremony that turned out to be a bid (singular) opening.

The event was part of the process to build new ferries for the Port Townsend/Keystone route.

The formal bid opening on a contract to construct up to two new 64-car vessels based on the Nantucket Steamship Authority's Island Home design was held at 11:00 a.m Thursday at Ferries Division headquarters in Seattle.

WSDOT received one bid from Todd Pacific Shipyards.

Bids were solicited for construction and delivery of one or two 64-auto ferries. Todd's proposed bid price is $124,450,559.00 for two vessels and $65,487,328.00 for one vessel. The WSDOT engineer's estimate is $95,943,865.00 for two vessels and $49,452,894.00 for one vessel.

"While I appreciate Todd Shipyards' responsiveness, I am disappointed that there is only one bid," said David Moseley, Assistant Secretary, WSDOT Ferries Division. "We will identify all viable options before making a decision."

WSDOT will evaluate the bid over the next few days to ensure it meets contract requirements before making an award recommendation.

Back in March, much the same sort of thing happened when Todd Pacific was the only bidder for a 50 car ferry for the route and came in with a price of nearly $26 million compared with a WSDOT estimate of $16.8 million.

WSDOT decided to rebid that contract, but wound up extending the charter of a county-owned vessel serving the route.