Menominee Tribal Enterprises Seeks Bids for New Neopit Sawmill Building

Three coordinated requests for proposals released by Menominee Tribal Enterprises on March 26 signal that the Neopit sawmill's Green Line stacker rebuild has moved decisively from planning into active procurement.

The largest of the three solicitations covers general construction: demolition of a condemned sawmill building, site preparation, and erection of a 9,396-square-foot Butler pre-engineered metal building to house new stacker equipment. Butler PEMB components were already designed and ordered before the RFP dropped, a sequencing decision that compresses the window between contractor selection and breaking ground. Stacker equipment will be supplied and installed by Gillingham-Best, Inc., identified in the project documents as the manufacturer. A separate, simultaneous RFP requests proposals for the full Gillingham-Best equipment package, covering supply, installation, and ongoing support.

The Green Line stacker sorts and stacks lumber as it clears the saw line, and its loss disrupted production throughput at the facility. MTE, which has operated the Neopit mill since 1908 and employs nearly 300 people across its operations with around 160 working at the sawmill during peak season, cannot run at full capacity until the stacker is back in service. Every week of reduced throughput affects those workers, local timber suppliers, and downstream customers of Menominee-processed lumber.

Project documents reference an EDA grant, connecting the rebuild to the $5 million CARES Act award the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration granted MTE in 2022 specifically to construct a new building and replace equipment at the sawmill. That federal funding imposes the public solicitation and documented evaluation criteria the RFP follows, including environmental attachments with U.S. Fish and Wildlife liaison documentation, specified bonding and insurance thresholds, and a sample contract in the appendices.

Proposals for the general construction contract must be delivered to MTE President and CEO Jennifer Peters at the Neopit office by the deadline listed in the solicitation packet. Regional contractors with steel erection, site prep, earthwork, and concrete capacity are the natural fit for the prime contract; the project's scope also creates subcontracting openings across mechanical, electrical, and industrial specialty trades.

A nearly 10,000-square-foot industrial building with associated demolition on the Highway 47 North site represents a meaningful near-term construction spend in Menominee County. When the structure is complete and the stacker reinstalled, MTE's Neopit mill can return to the production levels that support on-site employment and the timber revenue that anchors the broader Menominee forest economy.