Halifax County commissioners this evening accepted the jail expansion project bid of a Durham-based construction company.

Bordeaux Construction was the lowest bidder on the project, coming in with a proposal of $6,986,000.

Commissioners rejected one bid because the company submitted its bid bond two minutes after the 2 p.m. deadline of September 4. That bid, submitted by Heaton Construction, would have been the lowest bid at $6,887,000 had the package been complete, County Attorney Glynn Rollins said.

“All bids are over the budget we had in place,” Rollins told the board.

The expansion project will add 86 new beds to the jail. The jail currently has an 86-bed capacity and the state inspector has imposed a cap of 95 inmates, in-house, due to overcrowding issues.

Commissioners did have the option of tweaking the details to bring down the cost, but representatives of Moseley Architects said that would only increase the costs of an already time-sensitive project since it would have to be bid out again.

Commissioner Carolyn Johnson said the county can't keep delaying the project.

“I think time is of the essence,” Commissioner Vernon Bryant said. “We're spending a ton of money each month on having other jurisdictions house our inmates.”

The next step in the process will be a public hearing at the board's October 6 meeting which will center on the financing. Financing options for the project still have to be studied, County Manager Tony Brown said.

The October 6 meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the Historic Courthouse in Halifax.