ITEM 6-O

Council Meeting: July 11, 2000 Santa Monica, California

 

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City Staff

SUBJECT: Recommendation to Award a Construction Contract to J.A. Jones Construction for Excavation and Strengthening of the Kenter Canyon Storm Drain for the Public Safety Facility Project; and Authorize the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute an Amendment to Contract 7648 (CCS) with Law Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. for Additional Geotechnical Inspection Services.

INTRODUCTION

This report recommends that the City Council award a construction contract to J.A. Jones Construction in the amount of $902,725 and approve contingency funds in the amount of $90,273 for excavation and strengthening of the Kenter Canyon storm drain for the Public Safety Facility. The report also recommends that Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an amendment to Contract 7648 (CCS) with Law Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. for additional geotechnical inspection services in an amount not to exceed $61,000 and approve contingency funds in the amount of $11,100 to bring overall contract contingencies to 10% .

BACKGROUND

In February 1997, the City Council approved a financing plan for the Public Safety Facility and authorized staff to move forward with the preparation of detailed design documents for the new facility to house Police, Fire Administration and Emergency Operations. In order to expedite the construction of the Public Safety Facility the project was divided into two phases. On June 8, 1999, Council awarded a construction contract to Ford E.C. for phase one (excavation and utility relocation portions of the project). The scope of work included the excavation and strengthening of the portion of the Kenter Canyon storm drain located within the project limits. During excavation, contaminated soil was encountered in quantities greater than studies anticipated. The discovery of extensive contaminated soils required additional environmental and geotechnical inspections and testing to identify and document the type and extent of contamination, which resulted in higher costs and project delays. On January 11, 2000, the City Council amended the contract with Ford E.C. for additional costs related to the removal of debris and contaminated soil.

The project delays would have necessitated storm drain work during the rainy season, defined as October 15 through April 15. To minimize the risk of structural failure of the drain, the storm drain remained under soil cover during the rainy season of 1999-2000 and the work was moved from the otherwise completed Ford E.C. contract into the phase two building construction package.

The phase two building construction package was to implement the construction of the public safety facility on the site. On February 23, 2000, formal sealed bids to construct the facility were received from three (3) firms. All of the bids were significantly above the Engineer=s estimate for the work. Once construction contingencies were added to the lowest responsible bid the project budget shortfall was over $11 million. On May 11, 2000, Council approved staff=s recommendation to reject all bids and authorize the City Manager to negotiate on the open market for the construction of the facility.

Since that date, staff has negotiated with the three contractors who submitted bids. The goal of the negotiations have been to explore any opportunities to reduce the amount of the bids and to identify an approach that would provide greater certainty to the City as to the final cost of the project by limiting the opportunity for change orders during the construction phase. Staff=s efforts to reduce the contractor=s fees for general conditions, overhead and profit did not yield any interest on the part of the contractors to adjust their bids. In addition, under the traditional Adesign-bid-build@ approach, change orders (which are largely due to design issues which emerge during construction) are the responsibility of the owner, in this case the City. Therefore, staff also explored a Amodified design-build@ approach that would include a warranty from the contractor on the design and constructibility of the project within a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) or lump-sum price contract. Staff anticipates that these negotiations will culminate in a proposed GMP contract and financing plan which will be presented to Council for review and consideration in the near future.

In the interim, the storm drain work must be completed before this year=s rainy season. One of the potential phase two contractors, J.A. Jones Construction, has submitted a proposal to do the storm drain work which compares favorably to the Engineer=s estimates for the project. Staff recommends that the contract for the storm drain work be awarded to J.A. Jones Construction.

On November 18, 1999, a professional services agreement was issued to Law Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. for environmental and geotechnical inspection services. On January 11, 2000, Law Engineering=s contract was amended to allow additional environmental monitoring, testing and geotechnical inspection services necessitated by the discovery of extensive contaminated soil. Completion of the majority of the site excavation as well as the information obtained from additional soil testing around the storm drain during phase one have better defined the extent of geotechnical and environmental services required for the completion of the project. The proposed contract amendment amount for Law Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. should allow completion of the excavation and storm drain work.

BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT

Funds Required:

Construction Contract $ 902,725

Contingencies $ 90,273

SUBTOTAL $ 992,998

Geotechnical Inspection $ 61,000

Contingencies $ 11,100

SUBTOTAL $ 72,100

GRAND TOTAL $1,065,098

Funds in the amount of $72,100 are available in CIP account C01005898.589000 for geotechnical inspection and contingencies. Funds in the Amount of $992,998 including contingencies are available in CIP account C01005800.589000 for construction contract.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the City Council:

1. Award a construction contract for excavation and strengthening of the Kenter Canyon storm drain to J. A. Jones Construction in the amount of $902,725 and approve contingency funds in the amount of $90,273 for the contract; and,

2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an amendment to Contract 7648 (CCS) with Law Crandall Engineering and Environmental Services in the amount of $61,000 and approve contingency funds in the amount of $11,100 for geotechnical inspection services; and,

3. Authorize the City Engineer to issue any necessary change orders to complete additional work in accordance with the Administrative Instructions on change orders.

Prepared by:

Craig Perkins, Director of Environmental and Public Works Management
Anthony Antich, City Engineer
Lauren Friedman, Senior Architect