MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County manager Josh Potosek told legislators at a meeting on September 8 that new solicitations for bids for the new county jail went out to general contractors the previous day, and those interested have four weeks to respond.

Initial preliminary bids were unsealed on August 24, but the numbers that came back regarding the kind of insurance the general contractors must have in place were “all over the map,” Potosek said, indicating, perhaps, that more specificity was needed as to what the county would require in terms of insurance. Potosek said the bid requests were adjusted to add more detail in that regard.

The initial bids came in a bit lower than had been expected. The lowest was $65.29 million, with $1 million more for contingencies, and another $8.4 million if the project includes the building intended to house the sheriff’s office.

The high bidder came in at $71.63 million, again with a $1 million contingency, and $9.25 million for the sheriff’s office.

The overall cost for the entire project, which includes work at the site and the design work was estimated to be $95 million. If the new bids come in at the same range as the previous ones, the final cost could be substantially lower than the estimate.