MOSES LAKE - Contractors will be invited to submit bids for the new Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, with the bid opening scheduled for Nov. 13.

Mark Johnson, executive director for business and operations for the Moses Lake School District, said the plans will be available for contractors Thursday. Bids will be opened at 4 p.m. Nov. 13 in the district boardroom, 1328 West Ivy Ave.

"Our intent is to begin as soon as possible" after the bid is awarded, which could be as early as Nov. 13, Johnson said. Construction is expected to begin before the start of the year, he said.

The footings have been poured at the district's new transportation center, and crews are pouring the concrete floors, Johnson said. "There's a lot of concrete work going on that's tough to see from the street," he said. The bus garage and the skills center will be on Yonazawa Avenue.

Construction is on schedule, Johnson said. In fact, at the most recent meeting "they said they are ahead of schedule," he added. The transportation center will house all district buses and other vehicles and will include a repair shop.

About 90 percent of the cost is being paid by the state, Johnson said, and the facility will be available to other districts that need bus repairs but don't have the space or equipment. It's scheduled to open in spring 2013.

The skills center will house vocational and technical classes for 10 school districts, nine in Grant County and Othello in Adams County. It is scheduled to open for the 2014-15 school year.