• By WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jan 27, 2010 - Page: 4B

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Boh Bros Construction Co. of New Orleans is the apparent winner of a $60 million contract to widen Interstate 10 from Siegen Lane to Highland Road, state officials said Tuesday.

The firm finished first despite submitting the highest of three bids and needing roughly 10 months longer to finish the work than two other bidders.

Jeff Burst, project management administrator for the state Department of Transportation and Development, said he could not spell out why Boh Bros earned the best score because of confidentiality rules.

“The reason for it is embedded in the technical score,” Burst said.

The project will add one lane in each direction — to make three lanes each way — from Siegen Lane to Highland Road.

The work is being financed with federal stimulus dollars.

It is also a design/build project, which means the work will be handled by a joint team of highway designers and builders. Those steps have traditionally been handled separately.

Design-build allows state officials to look for what they consider the best bid, not just the lowest.

Boh Bros told the state it can do the widening work for $59.9 million and have it done in 1,064 days, which is nearly three years.

The project is set for completion by the end of 2012.

Coastal Bridge Co., of Baton Rouge, said it could do the work for $55 million and finish in 775 days, which is just over two years.

“We are very much in the dark,” Robert Overall, president of Coastal Bridge, said Tuesday of the state’s choice.

Gilchrist Construction Co., of Alexandria, submitted a bid of $39.7 million and said it could be done in 750 days.

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