RFB-47-24 DJJ McCracken Emergency HVAC

The Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice issued Request for Bid (RFB) RFB-47-24 for emergency HVAC services at the DJJ McCracken facility in Paducah, Kentucky, classified as Construction Services, General under commodity code 912. The procurement sought qualified contractors to replace an existing air-cooled chiller along with associated piping and mechanical systems, with work trades including demolition, HVAC, mechanical, controls, insulation, and electrical services. Key deliverables include the removal of the existing chiller, installation of new piping infrastructure, and commissioning of a replacement air-cooled scroll chiller from approved manufacturers including Carrier, Trane, or JCI, with factory-installed heat trace on the chiller evaporator and new glycol-based treatment chemicals (40% Propylene Glycol) calculated based on a system capacity of approximately 300 gallons in the existing chilled water coil. The solicitation required phased construction with coordinated cooling outages subject to written owner approval, proper sizing of the expansion tank, and calculation of total system water volume by the contractor. A mandatory pre-bid site visit was held on August 23, 2023, at 3:00 PM Central Time at 500 County Park Road, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, with representatives from Marcum Engineering LLC available to discuss the project scope. Bid documents and specifications were available for free download through the State Plan Room at stateofkyplanroom.com, with hard copies available for purchase at the contractor's expense. All bids were required to be submitted electronically through the Owner's Document Collaboration System via MOVEit transfer prior to the September 8, 2023, deadline at 2:00 PM, with contractors required to identify their firm's role as prime bidder, miscellaneous subcontractor, material supplier, or other. Addendum One, issued August 31, 2023, provided nine substantive modifications to the original specifications, including clarifications regarding the optional retention of the current chemical treatment contractor (Bluegrass Kesco), authorization for phased demolition and installation procedures, and technical requirements for the new glycol system.

The solicitation documents do not explicitly indicate set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises or restrictions limiting eligible respondents to specific organization types. Bluegrass Kesco is identified as the current chemical treatment contractor for the existing chilled water system, as documented in a June 20, 2023, treatment service report, but retention of this vendor is not mandatory under the new contract, allowing flexibility for bidders to propose alternative chemical treatment providers. The existing infrastructure includes a rental trailer chiller currently supplying cooling to the facility and a closed-loop chilled water system requiring integration with the new permanent chiller installation; contractors must coordinate work to minimize facility disruption through the phased construction approach. Project account number 523-CB1M-MK08-00 is referenced for administrative tracking, with Marcum Engineering (Project No. 23580) designated as the design firm. The specific contract award value or budget range is not disclosed in the available solicitation documents. For additional information or clarifications regarding the procurement, interested parties may contact Susan Ward, Statewide Procurement Analyst II, at 502-564-3050 or the design team contacts provided in the solicitation.