Protest lodged over Cape Girardeau County project award

Little Dixie Construction of Columbia, Missouri, has lodged a written protest with Cape Girardeau County after Jackson's Penzel Construction was awarded the design-build contract to expand the county jail and renovate the vacant 1908-era county courthouse.

"We will review [Little Dixie's] protest and will issue a response," said Presiding County Commissioner Clint Tracy on Monday, Dec. 5, with no specific timeline set for resolution.

"It's a process," Tracy said.

Both Little Dixie and Penzel submitted $45.5 million bids for the project, it was revealed Nov. 17.

While the bids were identical in terms of cost, Tracy said last month the firms did vary when it came to "scope" of work promised.

"We gave Penzel-Trainor and Little Dixie a list of five things we wanted for the money and Penzel said it could do four of the five and Little Dixie said it could do two," said Tracy in an interview with the Southeast Missourian on Nov. 18.

Scope of project

County officials outlined the five areas of work, more than 90% or $43 million of which is related to the housing of prisoners.

• New jail facility
• New roofs on both the 1979 and 2000 iterations of the jail
• New jail doors
• Sheriff's office refurbishments
• Old courthouse renovation

Of note

• Project is to be partly financed by a more than $30 million loan at a fixed 3.52% interest rate with an additional $10 million coming from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
• Work is expected to be finished by mid-2024.
• Penzel completed the new $20 million, 82,000-square-foot courthouse in 2020 and sits next door to the existing county jail, the latter of which is located at 216 N. Missouri St. in Jackson.