Having 500 or 600 angry people locked up behind bars without an ideal number of guards to watch them is bad enough – but no one wants to make matters worse by depriving those inmates of hot water.

That’s something Guilford County government is trying to address. On Wednesday, March 15, the county announced that it’s sending out an “Invitation for Bids,” for the jail in downtown Greensboro.

The Guilford County Purchasing Department handles these types of matters, in this case “Water Heater Replacement at the Guilford County Detention Center.”  The job description reads:  “The intent of this Invitation for Bid[s] is the demolition of all gas-fired water heaters, vent fans and vending, expansion tank, thermostatic mixing valves, associates’ piping, and supply fan, as well as the removal of existing stored water heaters; the installation of new gas-fired water heaters, vent piping, storage tanks, expansion tank, and electronic missing valves; integration of the new water heaters and electronic mixing valves with the existing building automation system. Electrical work for this project will include power wiring or the new plumbing equipment and the new DDC control system.”

There’s an added wrinkle as well and the county has notified the potential bidders of that detail: The Guilford County Detention Center in downtown Greensboro will remain full of inmates and staff while the somewhat complex job takes place.

The county is offering bidders a non-mandatory virtual meeting and a non-mandatory site walkthrough later this month.

The bids have to be received at the BB&T Building, 201 W. Market St., Suite 304, Greensboro, North Carolina 27401, by 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.

If your company is interested in replacing the water heating system for a jail full of inmates, the bidding documents, drawing, and specifications are available for viewing on Guilford County’s Vendor Self Service automated bidding system at https://guilfordcountync.munisselfservice.com

All documents and questions concerning the bid should be emailed to the office of the Engineer, R.C. Pritchard Engineering Services at 212 Kirk Road, Greensboro, North Carolina 27455 to the attention of Craig Pritchard, rcpritchardpe@gmail.com with a copy also going to Kevin Bates, pbates@guilfordcountync.gov and DG_Purchasing@guilfordcountync.gov.

A bid deposit isn’t required for this project.