Fort Ord veterans cemetery seeks bids

The effort to find the company who will build the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery has begun.

In Monday's edition of The Herald, the state Department of Veterans Affairs advertised for bids for the cemetery, which it estimates will cost $6.3 million and take 525 work days to complete.

Prospective bidders must attend the mandatory pre-bid meeting and site inspection tour July 9 at the Fort Ord Reuse Authority office in Marina.

The advertisement said the work involves labor, demolition, excavation, earthwork, storm water pollution prevention planning, monitoring for unexploded munitions, building fences, concrete, asphalt paving, electrical wiring and transformers, interior and exterior lighting, landscaping, installation of PG&E infrastructure and AT&T substructure, improvements to Parker Flats Road and more.

The bid opening will take place July 30 in Sacramento.

Organizers are on a tight Aug. 24 deadline for a $6.7 million grant to be approved, which has been complicated by some environmentalists protesting the environmental review process through comments to the state Department of General Services.

They said the state should complete a much longer environmental impact report, or EIR, as opposed to the environmental assessment the state produced. Although, they have stopped short of saying they will pursue legal action.