Despite significant concerns from a contractor who submitted a lower bid, city council has awarded to Wildstone Construction the contract for design and construction to widen the Robert Campbell Bridge to accommodate cyclists.

And that is raising concerns for the low bidder, who is now contacting the city's consultant on the project for answers.

Jacob Heigers, general manager of Cormode and Dixon Construction, said Thursday he has contacted Stantec Engineering, the city's consultant, looking for clarification on why the recommendation came forward as it did.

Coun. Kirk Cameron was the only council member Monday to vote against the $1.58-million contract award to Wildstone Construction.

He did so after Heigers took issue with the administration's recommendation for Wildstone Construction to be awarded the contract over its lower bid of $1.45 million for a similar Q-deck system.

Cormode & Dixon also submitted a second bid of $1.75 million for a more traditional build.

The only other bid on the project came from Boge & Boge, at $3.96 million.

Administration noted there are "technical issues” on the reliability of anchors and the thinner overlay in Cormode's proposal.

Heigers argued that even if there are some technical changes to be made, they would not add up to the $130,000 difference in cost.

He also noted that the documents submitted to the city were for conceptual designs.

It would be in the detailed design that would be developed after that when full details for the project would come forward, Heigers said.

He stressed that Cormode is simply asking the city for a fair and equal process.

Acting city manager Brian Crist told council that in putting out the contract for the project, the city went to a somewhat hybrid process.

Typically, the city would first go through a request for proposal on the bridge design, then tender the construction.

This time around, Crist explained, staff thought it would be advantageous to combine the two processes for design and build.

Crist acknowledged that council could choose not to award the tender and go the traditional route on the project.

That, however, would involve significantly more time with an award first for the design portion of the project followed by a tender for the construction after the design is done.

There's no guarantee that the price would remain the same.

Having the design finished in detail could take up to two months. It would be after that that a tender would go out for the construction.

On the other hand, it would "take away any ambiguity” in the process.

Cameron said he'd prefer to take the longer route on it.

Heigers said Thursday the company wants to meet with Stantec officials to discuss the bids before deciding what action to take.

"We need to understand why,” he said.

Cormode's position is that the two designs are essentially equal, but their price is much cheaper, Heigers said.