CHAMPAIGN — The city council this week likely will reject bids for the city's portion of the Big Broadband construction project, after the lowest bidder's prices came in $1.7 million above an engineer's estimate.

If the bid is rejected, city officials need to work quickly to keep pace with strict federal deadlines that accompanied the $26 million Big Broadband grant from last year.

Timelines were already tight — the group of three agencies cooperating on the project must spend 67 percent of the money by January 2012 and all of the funds by January 2013. Rejecting the bids and stepping back to renegotiate with contractors could delay the project by a couple months.

The cities of Champaign and Urbana and the University of Illinois are cooperating in the administration and execution of the project, which aims to connect underserved areas and community institutions to high-speed Internet. The city of Champaign is responsible for installing 158 miles of fiber conduit, by far the largest portion of the 278-mile system.

Bids for the UI and Urbana portions came in under their estimates. Collectively, the two estimated their portions would cost $7.4 million, and the bids totaled just under $7 million, according to city documents.

Champaign, on the other hand, forecast bids around $9.2 million, and the lowest bidder priced the project at $10.9 million. Overall, that puts the project $1.3 million over budget.

There is not a whole lot of contingency money built into the project, assistant city engineer Tony Vandeventer told the city council last month.

"We don't want to be in a situation where we can't put any paint on the walls or carpets on the floors," Vandeventer said.

City officials have suggested the council reject the project bid, which would allow administrators to renegotiate with Western Utility Contractors, the low bidder. If negotiators cannot come to an agreement, city officials would appeal to John Burns Construction, which was the second of the two companies that bid. John Burns Construction has initially priced the project at $11.4 million, according to city documents.

City officials believe they can still meet the project deadlines despite the delay, according to city documents. Vandeventer, however, said the council will need to work with the contractor to do so.

"We'll have to ask some questions and see if they can still work within that timeline," Vandeventer said.