Article
Third try at Bridgeton High comes in $7M higher; SDA board packet called a protest pending six days after SDA denied it
JERSEY INTEL EXCLUSIVE
New Jersey’s school construction agency went to the board on Oct. 7 with its third attempt to hire a builder for Bridgeton High School. The top-ranked bid is $80,985,000 from Ernest Bock & Sons. That is about $7 million more than the bid SDA recommended in March, before a protest scrapped that round. The project budget now stands at $94,971,000, up from $49,240,000 in 2022. The board packet calls a rival’s protest “pending.” An SDA decision dated six days earlier says it was denied.
Photo: Bridgeton Board of Education administration building (Thomas C. Lane IV Administration Building), Sept. 25, 2024. JohnTPaff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. The photo shows the district’s administration building, not the high school. Data: NJSDA board packets, March 4 and Oct. 7, 2026; NJSDA Final Agency Decision, Oct. 1, 2026. Infographic: Jersey Intel.
- What we know: The NJ Schools Development Authority’s Oct. 7 board agenda listed a vote on a design-build contract for Bridgeton High School’s additions and renovations to Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc. The packet recommends $80,985,000. In March, after the second round, SDA recommended Epic Management, Inc. at $73,962,000. That round was canceled after bid protests.
- Why it matters: SDA’s final project budget is $94,971,000. SDA’s memo calls it “a net increase of approximately $45.7 million” from the 2022 preliminary charter. An SDA decision says the rebids pushed the school’s expected delivery from December 2028 to the second half of 2029.
- What’s next: Under the resolution, board actions take effect only after a 10-day window following delivery of the meeting minutes to the Governor, unless she approves them sooner. Jersey Intel could not find a posted record of the Oct. 7 votes on SDA’s website as of Thursday evening.
BRIDGETON — The State has now put the Bridgeton High School expansion out to bid three times. The first two rounds ended in protests and cancellations. The third has produced a price about $7 million above the bid SDA recommended in March, a budget nearly double the 2022 estimate, and an award resolution that disagrees with itself on the contract amount.
The project would add and renovate 113,196 square feet at the occupied high school on West Avenue. According to SDA’s resolution, that would create room for 326 more students in grades 9 to 12. SDA’s board approved the preliminary project charter on Nov. 2, 2022.
Three bids, three protests
SDA’s Oct. 7 memo lays out the history:
- First bid: Advertised May 16, 2025 and opened Sept. 10, 2025. Bock ranked first of six. The fourth-ranked bidder, Hall Construction Co., protested four others, including Bock and Epic. SDA found it “in the public interest” to cancel and rebid, on Oct. 21, 2025.
- Second bid: Re-advertised Nov. 17, 2025 and opened Feb. 4, 2026. Epic ranked first of three. The third-ranked bidder, Dobco, protested Epic and Bock, and Epic then protested Dobco. SDA again found it “in the public interest” to cancel and rebid, on April 1, 2026.
- Third bid: Re-advertised June 1, 2026, with price weighted at 60 percent of the score. Three firms submitted technical and price proposals on Aug. 18, 2026. Bock’s $80,985,000 earned the top price score. Epic edged Bock on the non-price score, 75.100 to 75.000, but Bock’s lower price put it first overall, 90.000 to 88.843.
The project charter in the packet says it “replaces the charters approved by the Board in October 2025 and March 2026 due to the need for multiple rebids resulting from successful prior bid protests.”
$7 million more
The same three firms bid in March and in August. Every price went up:
| Bidder | Second bid (March 4 packet) | Third bid (Oct. 7 packet) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc. | $77,777,000 | $80,985,000 | +$3,208,000 |
| Epic Management, Inc. | $73,962,000 | $82,600,000 | +$8,638,000 |
| Dobco, Inc. | $80,285,000 | $84,500,000 | +$4,215,000 |
In March, SDA recommended Epic at $73,962,000, which was below SDA’s construction cost estimate of $77,000,301. In October it recommended Bock at $80,985,000, which is above that same estimate and $7,023,000 more than the March recommendation. The amount includes $1,685,000 in SDA-set allowances.
SDA’s memo says it met with Bock on Sept. 8, 2026 about the gap. It found that most of the difference “is attributable to a year of wage and material escalation costs, additional tariffs, plus the change in the underground basin materials from plastic to concrete structures.”
A budget that nearly doubled
The total project budget has risen at each step:
- $49,240,000 in the November 2022 preliminary charter
- $87,212,000 in the March 2026 charter
- $94,971,000 in the Oct. 7, 2026 final charter
SDA’s memo attributes the roughly $45.7 million increase over 2022 mainly to higher design-builder costs. It says the scope has also grown to include an expanded cafeteria. The district had originally planned to pay for that work itself. The charter lists a $2,700,000 district local share, substantial completion in November 2029 and occupancy in September 2029.
In its Oct. 1 decision, SDA said the cancellations and rebids pushed the school’s expected delivery “from December 2028 to the second half of 2029 — a loss of approximately a full year to the students and community of Bridgeton.”
Pending in the packet, denied in the decision
The Oct. 7 board memo says: “On September 21, 2026, Epic Management, Inc. (#2 final rank) filed a formal protest challenging the responsiveness of the bid submitted by Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc. (#1 final rank). The NJSDA is currently reviewing the protest and will issue a Final Agency Decision upon completion of its evaluation.”
The resolution in the same packet says “the bid protest is pending review and the issuance of a Final Agency Decision by the SDA Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.” It makes the award “contingent only upon the issuance of a Final Agency Decision rejecting the pending bid protest.”
SDA’s website posts a Final Agency Decision on that protest dated Oct. 1, 2026. It is signed by Laurette J. Pitts, SDA’s vice president and chief financial officer, and addressed to Epic’s attorney. Epic had questioned the accuracy of the uncompleted-work figure that Bock’s structural steel subcontractor, Thomas Company, Inc., reported on a required certification, and asked SDA to audit it before awarding the contract. The decision found the certification “facially compliant” and said Epic “presented no concrete evidence sufficient to trigger any duty of further inquiry.” It concludes: “Epic’s protest of the responsiveness of Bock’s bid is therefore denied, and the NJSDA will proceed with the award to Bock. This is a Final Agency Decision.”
Both documents are SDA’s own. The board packet dated Oct. 7 describes as pending a protest that the decision dated Oct. 1 says was denied.
Two amounts in one resolution
The packet gives the award as $80,985,000 in the memo’s price table, in its recommendation, in the resolution’s header and in the resolution’s WHEREAS clause. The operative “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED” clause authorizes “the award of a contract in the amount of $80,895,000, inclusive of SDA-established allowances totaling $1,685,000, to the highest ranked bidder, Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc.” The two figures differ by $90,000.
Same builder, $1.5 million change order in Trenton
The same Oct. 7 agenda listed a $1,519,054 change order to Bock on the Trenton New Elementary School. SDA awarded that design-build contract on Sept. 3, 2025 for $69,973,000. The school is planned as a roughly 124,000-square-foot building for 837 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The memo, signed by Program Director Steve Wendling, gives the reason as “Different Site Conditions – Storm Water Management System”:
- The stormwater report from SDA’s bridging design consultant “utilized 2 permeability tests” and classified the site’s soils as Type D.
- Bock’s site consultant, French Parrello Associates, found a mix of soil types. The underground basins and the stormwater they must hold “grew by approximately 150%.”
- SDA’s bridging consultant agreed with the reclassification in late March 2026. On May 8, 2026, SDA issued a $0.00 construction change directive telling Bock to proceed. That directive was discussed with the board in executive session on June 3.
- Negotiated totals: $1,422,359 for Basin 1 and its redesign, and $96,695 for Basin 2.
The change order excludes time and delay costs. According to the memo, Bock “is seeking to reserve their rights to submit for a time extension once the full impact to the schedule is known.” A separate $284,023 for hauling away excess historic soils was paid from a subsurface-condition allowance. With this change order, the Trenton contract rises to $71,748,224.29, a 2.54 percent increase. The memo lists substantial completion as May 4, 2028.
The memo does not name the bridging design consultant whose two-test report sized the original basins.
What the records would show
Several documents behind these items are not in the board packets. Jersey Intel is preparing public-records requests for them:
- The full file on Epic’s Sept. 21 protest and the record behind the Oct. 1 decision
- The Oct. 7 minutes and roll-call votes on both items
- For Trenton: the bridging design consultant’s contract, its stormwater management report and permeability tests, French Parrello Associates’ soils report, and the file on the $0.00 change directive