Natick Extends On-Call Engineering Service Contract to Beta Group, Inc.

Natick's Board of Selectmen was advised at its Sept. 9 meeting that the town had been without an on-call engineering contract since last December.

At the request of DPW Director William Chenard, the Board unanimously approved a three-year extension to Beta Group, Inc. of Norwood.

Chenard said Beta has been involved with many projects in town, including the Pond Street wall, and keeping the company under contract made the most sense.

"I took a look at where they are at (in terms of) pricing, and I called other communities," Chenard said. "(Beta isn't) the lowest, but not close to the highest. They are about at the mid point."

Town Administrator Martha White said the town has been making amendments to base contracts for specific projects since Beta's contract expired.

"We typically go through an abbrievated process to get comparity pricings," White said.

Chenard said the contract does not have to go out for bid.

"We do requests for qualifications," he said. "But we don’t want the low bidder on engineering projects for bridges (and other jobs)."

"This was an oversight that fell through the cracks," Vice Chair Joshua Ostroff said. "(Beta's) numbers are credible and the work they've done, I've found them to be very responsive. The public has been well served."

Beta's new contract will end June 30, 2016.