During a meeting Monday night, members of the Barrington School Building Committee voted unanimously to recommend awarding the bid to build a new middle school to Brait Builders Corporation.

Brait, which specializes in school construction projects, submitted the lowest of four bids at $51,275,000. 

KBE/Bentley bid $52,125,000, Bacon Construction Company bid $53,197,000 and HV Collins bid $56,230,000. (The school building committee had set a construction budget of $54,295,000, and has overall project budget of $68.4 million)

The Barrington School Committee is expected to discuss and possibly vote on the recommendation during its meeting on Thursday night, Feb. 1. 

Should the school committee accept the bid, the district would likely issue a "notice of award" to Brait on Feb. 2, and a "notice to proceed" on Feb. 12. The notice to proceed would trigger the start of construction for the contractor.

The recommendation to award the bid to Brait followed an extensive review process, said officials.

Sam Bradner, of the Peregrine Group, checked the references provided by Brait Builders and told members of the building committee that all parties he spoke with said they had positive experiences working with the Marshfield, Mass.-based construction company.

In addition, the owner's project manager, Dan Tavares, said he had worked with Brait on three projects, including the construction of an elementary school in Bourne, Mass.

"I have zero reservations about working with Brait," he said. 

Attorney Christopher Whitney reviewed the company's recent legal background and said Brait was held in good standing with DCAMM (the Division of Asset Capital Management and Maintenance) in Massachusetts. DCAMM is responsible for capital planning, public building construction, facilities management, and real estate services for the Commonwealth. 

In addition, officials said that Brait had often been brought in by bonding companies to finish construction projects that prior contractors had been unable to complete. 

A check of Brait's recent school construction projects showed the contractor had finished on time and on — or below — budget.

Barrington has established an aggressive construction schedule for the middle school project. Officials are aiming to have the work started in March and completed by the start of the 2019-20 school year. 

The contract requires the builder to complete the work in the stated time frame. The contract also includes an early completion bonus should work be finished ahead of schedule, as well as fines for each day the work exceeds the deadline.

After discussing the issue for more than an hour, members of the school building committee voted unanimously to award the bid to Brait. Committee member Patrick Guida made the motion and fellow committee member Marc Zawatsky seconded it.