LARAMIE - University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan has recommended that the trustees hire Sampson Construction of Lincoln, Nebr., as construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the east stadium enhancement and prestige seating project.

Of the three finalists for the contract, Sampson's bid was lower than that from the company offering the fastest completion, but it was 15.7% higher than the lowest bid, which involved the longest completion time.

According to the trustees' report prepared for the board's meetings Thursday and Friday in Laramie, Sampson was chosen because the company and the employees it would assign to the project have "greater experience with this type of project," and their proposal was "more fully developed and indicated a better construction process and timeline than the other submissions."

Sampson's bid to act as CMAR totaled $1.53 million, which was $239,545 more than the lowest bidders, a joint venture between Reiman Corp. of Cheyenne and Haselden Wyoming Construction LLC. The M.A. Mortensen Const. Co. of Denver submitted a bid of $2.433 million, which offered the earliest completion time - 456 days.

Sampson's proposal called for 584 calendar days for completion compared to Reiman/Haselden's 639 days.

The report stated that nine firms initially indicated an interest in the project and five firms were invited to submit proposals. The three finalists were interviewed on Oct. 18.

Richard Miller, UW's vice president for governmental, community and legal affairs, said Thursday that the CMAR process is an alternative construction delivery method and that the state's resident contractor preference law does not apply to the hiring of CMARs.

In the report, UW stated that Sampson was located in Cheyenne and that Haselden Wyoming Construction LLC was located in Casper.

Searches of online telephone databases showed no office for Haselden in Casper and no office for Sampson in Cheyenne.

Sampson's Web site showed offices only in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, all in Nebraska. A search of the Internet turned up a Haselden Construction LLC in Centennial, Colo. Reiman's Web site showed offices in Cheyenne, Meeteetse and Pinedale.

UW provided Wyoming phone numbers for Sampson and Haselden on Friday. A representative of Sampson who answered in Cheyenne said the company was building the south high school in Cheyenne and the office was on that site. J.J. Rams of Haselden was reached at the phone number provided by UW. He said Haselden is building Cottonwood Elementary School in Casper, another elementary school in Sheridan and the Information Technology building at UW. He said Reiman Corp., their joint venture partner, built the upper stands of the UW stadium in the 1970s and also did the upper west safety and enhancement project in 2004 as well as numerous other projects in Wyoming.