Hogan Construction gets nod for jail

By Jessica Blomquist
Staff Writer 

    The Morgan County Building Authority met last Tuesday evening in a special called meeting to hear the review committee’s recommendation of Hogan Construction for construction manager for the Morgan County Public Safety Complex Center, which includes the new jail.
    Project Manager Ray McFadden presented the proposal evaluation committee’s recommendation, which was based on interviews conducted on June 12 with six companies.  Each company submitted a final-and-best-offer fee, ranging from the lowest at $340,000 to the highest at $525,000.
    To evaluate each company, the committee created a mathematical formula where each received a score from one to five in five different factors: prior experience with construction management on time/on budget; proposed fee; history of disputes; qualifications and experience of personnel assigned; and financial strength.  Each of those factors was worth a certain percent based on their importance according to the committee. The raw score of one through five for each factor was multiplied by the percentage that factor was worth, resulting in a total score when all the factors were added together.
    The proposed fee and qualifications of personnel were the two factors in which all the companies did not receive a perfect score of five and were therefore the two factors the committee really considered when deciding on their recommendation.
    Hogan Construction submitted the lowest bid of $340,000, receiving the highest raw score in the proposed fee category. The company also scored a raw score of 4.8 in the category of qualifications of personnel.  Hogan Construction received the highest score using this scoring process, with a total score of 496.  What stood out to the committee was the fact that the president of the company came to the interview.
    The superintendent also has 20 years of experience with Hogan Construction alone.  Commissioner Sammy Cathey motioned to accept the recommendation, and Vice Chairman Ellen Warren seconded. 
    “The way we went about this was so professional and detailed,” Warren said. The Board voted unanimously to approve Hogan Construction as construction manager for the public safety complex.