City Council awarded a nearly $10-million contract for a new filter system as part of the upgrades to the city’s water treatment plant.

Six bids were received March 17 and City Council awarded a $9.824-million contract at its March meeting but not before some clarification on of the winning bid. The governing body approved a resolution (AR-93-15) awarding a contract to Tomar Construction.

The East Brunswick-based firm never received a third addendum to the city’s bid requirements which went out March 5. The certified mailing never made it out of a U.S. Postal Service facility in Jersey City, according to the resolution.

After receipt of bids on March 17, the city received correspondence from Tomar seeking clarification that the award would be made to the lowest responsible bidder by total bid price, which the firm asserted it would be.

The six bids were:

• Tomar Construction: $9.824 million
• Pact Two, LLC: $10.31 million
• Northeast Remsco Construction: $10.423 million
• PKF-Mark III, Inc.: $10.785 million
• Stone Hill Contracting Co.: $11.322 million
• Spectraserv, Inc.: $12.8095 million

The contract will be funded in part by a loan from the  state Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Environmental Infrastructure Trust, which is expected cover about half of the project to upgrade the water treatment plant.

City Council passed an ordinance in February authorizing $19.785 million in bonds for water treatment plant improvements. In March, a nearly $2-million contract was awarded for a new interconnection pipeline as part of the project.