Brick Township Police Department special operations building, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Brick officials rejected the only bid received for one of the final steps toward completing the new Brick Township Police Department special operations building in the rear of the municipal complex after the bids came in well over budget.
The township council last week rejected base bid of $670,000 and a bid alternate of $805,000 to install mechanical, HVAC and plumbing service to the building.
The long-planned Special Operations Building, as it has become known, was funded through the township’s capital budget and has already been constructed on a lot that was subdivided from the remainder of the complex in 2018.
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The two-story building will house several functions and play host to a number of special purpose vehicles within its garage area. It measures 72-by-102 feet and has been built in a “pole barn” style. The necessity of the new building is evidenced by what it is replacing, according to officials – a shed that was considered “dilapidated” and was insufficient to protect the integrity of vehicles, much less be of use to officers.
Construction has been largely completed, however there has been no heat in the building and other HVAC and plumbing system functions still need to be installed. Bid notices were mailed to 80 vendors on a township list and publicly advertised, but only one responded.
“The bids were significantly higher than expected, and we will instead search for vendors available via state contract,” said Councilman Derrick Ambrosino.
State and multi-state purchasing cooperatives are often utilized by municipal governments to save money on such projects, since prices are pre-negotiated at scale. It is an alternative to the traditional bidding process.
“We certainly like when there’s some more competition,” said township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin. “It can be hard these days.”
The building will ultimately include office space, a backup dispatch center and a training room, plus locker rooms for the department’s special operations division. It will also be used to store new ambulances, a SWAT vehicle, the township’s Mobile Command Center and the Mass Casualty response vehicle, with a gravel parking lot. Previously, all of these vehicles were kept outdoors.
