Item 6-M

Council Meeting: June 22, 1999

Santa Monica, California

 

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City Staff

SUBJECT: Recommendation to Award Contract for the 1997-98 Federal Street Resurfacing Project #2 to PALP, Inc. (DBA Excel Paving Company); and Authorize the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a Professional Services Contract with DMR Team Inc. for Construction Management Services

 

 

Introduction

This report recommends that the City Council award a contract for the construction of the 1997-98 Federal Street Resurfacing Project # 2, Federal Project # STPL-5107 (008) to PALP Inc. (DBA Excel Paving Company), the lowest responsible bidder, in the amount of $716,167; find that PALP Inc.=s (DBA Excel Paving Company) failure to acknowledge Addendum 1 in their bid proposal is a minor bid irregularity; and authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional services contract with DMR Team Inc. for construction management services in the amount of $58,257. The locations of the project are 14th Street from Wilshire Boulevard to Pico Boulevard and 11th Street from Wilshire Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard.

Background

Each fiscal year, the City Council authorizes the implementation of a one-year program of street improvements identified by the Department of Environmental and Public Works Management including street resurfacing, slurry sealing, and repairs to curbs, gutters, curb ramps, bus pads, and sidewalks. The priority projects for the year are selected from among those streets that rank highest in the need for repair in the Pavement Management System Report. This report has been required since 1989 to qualify for federal funding and is updated periodically. It ranks the condition of all streets in the City. During the annual on-site inspection of these priority locations, staff further evaluates streets for type and schedule of repair by age, surface and subsurface conditions, complaints received, type of use (i.e., commercial, industrial or residential), current traffic volume, and projected change of use or volume.

The federal government, through various legislation, provides aid for the development of surface transportation projects. A portion of these funds are set aside for the maintenance and upgrading of local streets. In Santa Monica, 14th Street from Wilshire Boulevard to Pico Boulevard and 11th Street from Wilshire Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard qualify for these federal funds. The federal government requires projects using these funds to follow federal contracting procedures. For this reason, this project was bid separately from the City=s annual street resurfacing project. This project will use all of the $589,615 currently available.

Every effort is made to repair and recycle existing pavement rather than unnecessarily incur the expense of total pavement replacement. These streets will be resurfaced by heating and scoring the top one inch of thickness, adding oil to rejuvenate the pavement, and then applying an overlay with rubberized asphalt. One of the benefits of using the rubberized asphalt means that more than 15,000 old tires will not be placed in a landfill.

Discussion

The Notice Inviting Bids was published in the Argonaut on April 19, 1999 and April 26, 1999. A Notice Inviting Bids, along with the plans and specifications, were also submitted to seven construction journals, and were sent to five women/minority business enterprise (WMBE) associations. Twelve contractors requested bid packages. The City Clerk's Office received five sealed bids which were publicly opened and read aloud on May 25, 1999, by the Deputy City Clerk. The bid results were as follows:

1. Excel Paving Company   $ 716,167
2. Sully-Miller Contracting Company $ 741,141
3. Sequel Contractors, Inc. $ 751,834
4. Silvia Construction, Inc. $ 769,513
5. Los Angeles Engineering, Inc. $ 830,609
City Engineer's Estimate $ 745,000

The lowest bidder, Excel Paving Company, failed to acknowledge Addendum 1 in their submitted bid proposal. Addendum 1 contained an updated federal wage rate schedule. None of the revised wage rates affected labor classifications that will be used on this project. The Contractor=s representative stated after the bid opening that they were aware of the addendum and that the addendum did not affect their bid amount. Because the bid addendum did not affect the bid price and because failing to acknowledge the addendum did not provide the contractor any unfair advantage over other bidders, the City Council can determine that failure to acknowledge the addendum is a minor bid irregularity.

Excel Paving Company supplied the City with a list of recent similar projects. City staff contacted representatives from the City of Culver City, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach. Projects for those organizations include Sepulveda Boulevard Resurfacing, Foothill Boulevard Resurfacing, and 2nd Street Resurfacing, respectively. All references reported that the Contractor=s work was very good. Excel Paving Company has also completed projects for the City of Santa Monica. Their work for the City has been very good. The State Contractors= License Board verified that the Contractor=s license is current, active, and in good standing. To be eligible for federal funding, the selected contractor must meet the 14% DBE goal established for this project. Excel Paving Company has committed to using AM Concrete, a federally listed DBE firm, for approximately 19% of the project.

Construction Management

The professional services construction management contract includes inspection and management of the construction work detailed above. Requests for Proposals were sent to six firms. The City received four replies and each firm was interviewed by a staff committee of three engineers/inspectors resulting in the selection of DMR Team, Inc. DMR Team, Inc. is successfully providing similar services for the Pico Streetscape Project.

 

Budget/Financial Impact

Construction funds required are as follows:

Contract $716,167
Construction Contract Contingency $ 75,576
Construction Management $ 58,257
Construction Management Contingency $   6,000
Total $856,000

Funding is available in the following accounts:

 

ACCOUNT

 

CONTRACT

 

CONTINGENCY

 

TOTAL

 

43-770-402-20098-8905-99453

(Street Resurfacing, Federal Match 1)

 

 

$589,615

 

 

$0

 

 

$589,615

 

01-770-402-20098-8905-99453

(Street Resurfacing, Federal Match 1)

 

 

$75,629

 

 

$0

 

 

$75,629

 

01-770-402-20098-8905-99152

(Street Repair/Resurfacing)

 

 

 

$109,180

 

 

$81,576

 

 

$190,756

 

TOTAL

 

$774,424

 

$81,576

 

$856,000

 

 

Recommendation

Staff recommends that the City Council:

1. Find that PALP Inc.=s (DBA Excel Paving Company) failure to acknowledge Addendum No. 1 is a minor bid irregularity;

2. Award a contract for the construction of the 1997-98 Federal Street Resurfacing Project # 2 to PALP Inc. (DBA Excel Paving Company), the lowest responsible bidder, in the amount of $716,167;

3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional services contract with DMR Team Inc. for construction management services in the amount of $58,257; and,

4. Authorize the City Engineer to issue any necessary change orders to complete additional work within budget authority.

 

Prepared by:

Craig Perkins, Director of Environmental and Public Works Management

Anthony Antich, P.E., City Engineer

Dave Britton, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer

Neil Cole, P.E., Civil Engineer