A school reached out to us asking for help. They are in a tough spot and are trying to figure out what to do.
They've asked to remain anonymous but I can share some particulars of the situation.
It is a fairly large / complex project, with multiple buildings and a parking lot. For ~100 cameras, they allocated $100,000 but the only bid came in around ~$400,000. The bid, unfortunately, has no breakdowns so you cannot tell where the cost is coming from.
But at ~$4,000 per camera, there is obviously a lot of money for install or a huge markup on products, since $4,000 is a lot per camera. That noted, since they have multiple buildings and parking lots to cover, that could be driving the install cost way up.
One thing I suggested to them was to ask the bidder to break the bid out per item and per installation, as possible, so they can better understand what is driving cost.
The other bigger issue is that, with just one bid, you cannot tell if someone out there would be willing and capable of doing the job for far less.
What do you recommend? Any advice?