MONTPELIER, VT (AP) A technical problem with a contract bid process that might have cost the next leg of the Chittenden County Circumferential Highway its federal funding has prompted the state to seek a new round of bids.

Repeating the bid process will not delay the next step in construction of the Circ, which is supposed to break ground in May. Several lawsuits filed by environmental groups might delay the project.

The Circ Highway is a proposed 16-mi. (25.7 km), $180 million ring road from Williston through Essex to Colchester. Most of the road would be two lanes, except on steep inclines, where a passing lane would be added. A four-mile section opened in 1993 in Essex.

The bids for this section of the project cover a 2.4-mi. (3.9 km) stretch of the highway between Interstate 89 and Redmond Road. The work includes construction of a new exit on I-89, about a mile south of Exit 12. The two-lane road would continue north to Mountain View Road, not far from the intersection of Redmond Road.

Transportation Secretary Patricia McDonald said the project needed to be re-bid because of confusion regarding federally mandated Disadvantaged Business Enterprise forms in the first round of bidding. The provision encourages contractors to include minority and women-owned businesses in the process.

Only the eight contractors who attended the pre-bid conference will be able to submit new bids.

Circ bidders

Bids submitted Oct. 10 for the construction of a 2.425-mi. (3.9 km) stretch of the Circumferential Highway in Williston:

-- H.E. Sargent Inc., Stillwater, Maine: $32,477,974.30

-- J.A. McDonald Inc., Lyndon Center: $32,888.911.67

-- Delaney Construction Corp., Gloversville, N.Y., $33,456.789.29

-- R.S. Audley Inc., Bow, N.H.: $34,398,351.83

-- S.D. Ireland Concrete Construction Corp., Burlington: $34,676,920.37

-- Kubricky Construction Corp., Glens Falls, N.Y.: $36,615,694.09

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