State officials will try to negotiate a contract or contracts to build a new 706-bed medium-security prison at a price closer to the Legislature's budget for the project.

Corrections officials were stunned when the only bid for the project,  from Hensel-Phelps Construction Co., came in at $125.6 million, or 86 percent more than the architects' estimate of $68 million.

The bid also exceeded the amount budgeted by the Legislature for the project, which allocated $76 million for the prison in 2005 and added $6.5 million in early 2006 to cover expected higher costs, for a total appropriation of $82.5 million.

The new effort will start Friday, when state construction management officials meet with architects Tobin and Associates of Cheyenne, and DLR Group of Colorado Springs to discuss a list of contractors who might be interested in the project or pieces of the project.

Rich Cathcart, administrator of the construction management division of the Department of Administration and Information, said there are at least two contractors interested in the Torrington project.

Wednesday the State Building Commission, which includes the governor and four other elected state officials, voted unanimously to authorize the Department of Corrections and state construction management officials to work on a negotiated contract.

Cathcart cautioned that even if the state gets a negotiated contract, the amount may still be higher than the appropriation, but House Speaker Randall Luthi, R-Freedom said there is no reason for a special legislative session to allocate more money for the project at this time.

"I think we have to go one more step of the way to see if there is a construction firm interested in the negotiation process in line with the appropriation," Luthi said.