Evening star., 1915-11-18
NO BIDDER IS WITHIN
THE MONEY AVAILABLE
Many Proposals for Construction Of
Government Central
Power Plant.

With congressional appropriations OF
$1.494,1O4 available for the construc-
tion of the building and tunnels of the
central power plant, which is to supply
light and heat to many federal build
ings in the city of Washington,
Washington concern, the w. G. Conneil
Company. with a proposal to DO tine
entire job for s-,69s.500, was the low
est bidder on the whole plant. Another
Washington contractor, George L.
wyne. was low bidder for the con-
struction of the building alone, with
proposal of $4,000; with thiro
Washington concern, the Wells Com
pany, second lowest. bidding $4s6,71o
for the construction of the building:
Bids were opened yesterday In the
office of the supervising architect Five
hours were consumed in reading on
the proposals they were opened
The contract attracted wide attention
among constructors of various xmas;
Proposals were received Tor all ana
for part of the work.
George T. Kelly Company of 1onk-
ers, n. V. with a bid of $1,7Ss,o00' ana
IT. j. Carlin Company of Brooklyn, n.
Y, were second and third lowest bid
ders for the entire plant. Further ap-
preparation by Congress will be need
ed should one of these three bids FOR
the whole job be acceptable.
Inc BOyle-RODertSOn COMPANY olei
ed to construct the building for $4S6.71O
and was third lowest bidder In this
class. There were four other bids for
the building construction.
Considering alone the construction OF
the whole system of tunnels, laterals,
supplementary tunnels and vitr1fied
ducts, there were three bidders, one Of
them the Crawford Paving Company.
About 100000 is to be expended for
this part of the plant W. c. Cornell
Company. in addition to its bid for the
entire plant. submitted proposals on
many sections for current cables. pip
ing. alterations in the buildings to be
supplied with light and heat and other
items in the specifications.
To Serve Many Buildings.
The building will occupy a site on
Water street southwest between 13th
ard 13Is streets. 1t will have 'front.'
= Of lis feet and a depth of 129 feet
lie building will be constructed of
= forced concrete, and be provided
ssiI stea!-frame windows occupying
{. larger part of the wall space. An
4. t"icate tunnel system will convey
steam and electric current to the bu-
rtau Of engraving and printing, the
4'-aasury Deartmcnt, the State. War
ii Navy building, the AUDITORS build
Htfns buildings. the Agricultural De-
partment, the Court of Claims. the Ma
tsonal Museum. the Smithsonian In
stltution. the Army Medical Museum.
building, the fish commission and the
Post Office Department. and, when
built, the Interior Department and the
State. Justice and Commerce buildings.
all included in what is technically
known in the Office of the supervising
architect as the White House zone"
The larger of these tunnels will be
seven feet wide and six and half
feet high.
The central power plant will be the
most modern construction Of the char
aoter and the latest word in design
and equipment. Many new ideas in
for the plant. The Benning plat in
Washington is larger. and there are
several larger plants elsewhere. The
tunnels will carry high-pressure steam
n distance of nearly two miles. estab-
fishing a record for Washington.
Bids on Alternative Plan.
Section 90 of the specifications asked
for bids on a larger tunnel than called
for in the regular specification to con-
meet the Treasury Department with
the bureau of engraving and printing
in the prospect that Congress may
authorize and appropriate for an cleo
trical transportation system for car
rying paper currency and other Sc
t'f'teS OF Ine government: between the
buildings. The increased cost, esti.
N4-teu uy the three bids made, would
be between $4,000 and SIOI,00O
The lowest bid was made by the
Crawford Paving Company of WASH
ineton, which asked SS4,6Oo additional
I" enlarge the tunnel according to the
alternative plan. Fred 7. Levy & Co
Springfield, Mass. asked s92,01O
additional. and James Fury & Sons,
Inc, of Baltimore asked s101,223
additional
The W. G. Cornell Company of Wash
ington, in it's bid for the entire con-
tract. proposed to complete the work
in eighteen months The other two
general bidders wanted twenty-eight
and thirty months, respectively, to do
the job.
Westinghouse Electric and Manufac-
turing Company of East Pittsburgh
was low bidder on the electric equip
ment. Hanley Casey NJ. E Company
of Chicago was next with bid of
S2S9,400. The only other bidder, the