An Illinois contractor has submitted the lowest base bid to build a new state maximum-security prison in Fort Madison, raising questions about how many construction jobs will be held by out-of-state workers.

Walsh Construction of Chicago offered a base bid Wednesday of $116.9 million for the 800-bed prison construction project, which is expected to employ 300 to 500 construction workers in southeast Iowa.

Ray Walton, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, which solicited the bids, said Wednesday that he thought Iowans would secure the largest share of the prison construction jobs, even if an Illinois company got the contract.

“I believe that the predominant percentage of workers on this project are going to be Iowa workers,” he said.

The employment issue is a hot political topic because the jobless rate among building trades workers in southeast Iowa is estimated at 15 to 20 percent.

The head of an Iowa construction industry group has expressed worries that out-of-state workers could take many of the jobs created by the Fort Madison project if an out-of-state firm gets the contract.

Scott Norvell, president of Master Builders of Iowa, which represents 2,000 businesses, sent a letter to Culver this month asking him to enforce preference laws protecting jobs of Iowa workers and contractors.

Norvell said his concerns were warranted because Iowa had already failed to enforce an existing preference law on a $70 million project for the University of Iowa’s Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building in Iowa City.

Norvell said the university’s stance has cost Iowa construction workers 150 to 175 jobs on a contract awarded in August to Walsh Construction, the same Illinois firm seeking the Fort Madison prison project.

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By: William Petroski
Des Moines Register