School board's tender offers

Aspen View Public School Board will be opening the tender bid envelopes on April 18 to decide which contracting company will build Athabasca's new secondary school.

After the tenders are opened, the Aspen View Public Schools board will make a motion to award the tender during their meeting on April 21.

ìWe're all waiting eagerly to open the envelopes and see what the numbers are, î said Ross Hunter, communications officer for Aspen View. ìBecause this is a provincially-funded project, under provincial rules, we are required to take the lowest bid.

ìWhatever bid is the lowest - the architects have a 24-hour period to make sure that it is compliant. At the board meeting on the 21st, we anticipate having a motion to recommend awarding the tender. î

Although the motion will be carried out shortly after the opening, it is up to the province to make the final decision on who the bid will be awarded to. Hunter said the process is usually in favour of the board's decision.

ìWe technically don't award it. The province awards it. But it's essentially the same thing, î he said. ìIt's fairly automatic that whatever the board recommends, the province will endorse it. î

After the tender is finally awarded, the only obstacle the school board needs to pass is the land transfer agreement approval by Alberta's provincial cabinet.

Hunter said the agreement was submitted at the end of December 2015. Despite it being in the cabinets hands for so long, he had no indication that it would not be approved.

ìIt's literally and figuratively out of our hands right now, î he said. ìRight now, we're just waiting anxiously for the cabinet to approve (the land transfer). î

He said the board is hoping the cabinet will approve the land transfer around the same time the tender is awarded April 21. He also said the board fully anticipates to have shovels in the ground some time this summer.

ìThe question is when this summer, î he said. ìIf everything falls perfectly in place, then the earlier it will be. It's difficult to say when because it's a moving target at this point. We should know more by the meeting on the 21st. î