TO:
Honorable Mayor Powell and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
Joe Parco, City Engineer
Gilbert Gamboa, Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Approval of Plans and Specifications for the City Yard Cover Project, Reject the Low Bid and Award a Construction Contract to Creative Home, Inc. DBA CHI Construction ($672,262) for the City Yard Cover Project, and Award a Professional Engineering Services Contract to Hamilton and Associates, Inc. ($113,351) for Construction Inspection Services (Public Works Director Olmos).
APPROVE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve the plans and specifications for the City Yard Cover Project;
2. Reject the low bid as non-responsive;
3. Award a construction contract in the amount of $672,262 to Creative Home, Inc. DBA CHI Construction for the City Yard Cover Project;
4. Authorize the City Manager to approve additional work, if necessary, in an amount not-to-exceed $67,738 (10%);
5. Approve agreement for professional services with Hamilton and Associates, Inc. in an amount not-to-exceed $113,351 for construction inspection services and authorize City Manager to execute the agreement; and
6. Approve a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $85,000 from available enterprise funds.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Five separate enterprise funds including Capital Improvement, Water, Stormwater, Wastewater and Refuse in the total amount of $801,180 have been appropriated by City Council for this project through the Fiscal Year 2013-2014 Capital Improvement Plan. As a result of the current construction bids and inspection costs, a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $85,000 will be required to complete this project. Additional monies from the five enterprise funds are available and necessary to completely fund construction of the project in the total amount of $886,180. A summary of budget and expenditures is provided in Attachment 1.
BACKGROUND:
The upper level area of the City Yard maintenance facility is utilized as a bulk material storage area for temporary storage of construction, landscaping and waste disposal materials as shown in Attachment 2. Construction and landscaping materials are utilized for various, daily City maintenance projects and for emergency repair operations. In addition, this area serves as a temporary storage facility for the transfer of debris collected from street sweeping, catch basins and Continuous Deflective Separation (CDS) storm drain units; as well as, recycling bulk construction demolition materials. The waste disposal and construction recycle materials are divided into separate bin areas then removed by the City's waste hauler on a routine daily basis. There is also a single bin area which is used for what is considered refuse.
The City Yard Cover Project is comprised of four main types of improvements including building, pavement, sewer and storm drain improvements. The building portion of the project involves the construction of two separate steel frame roof canopy structures over the designated material storage bin areas. The open wall, roof canopy structures will be constructed to approximately twenty (20) feet in height with a metal roof cover aesthetically matching the existing building structures on site. In an effort to make the storage yard area more private, the roof cover will be painted green to serve as a visual buffer for residents located immediately adjacent to 36th Place. Currently, the upper storage area is divided by masonry block wall partitions on the north and west sides that have deteriorated over time. New concrete wall partitions will be constructed in place of the broken and ineffective block walls. Once completed, the new divider walls will help keep materials separated and the roof covers will help to prevent the bulk materials from polluting the localized storm water runoff for this site.
The pavement portion of the project includes the reconstruction of the existing 50 year old pavement that covers the site. The large equipment traffic over the old asphalt pavement has caused areas to crack and buckle under the heavy loading. This in turn has caused drainage issues such as nuisance water ponding. The new reinforced concrete pavement will be constructed to adequately provide the proper drainage and handle the heavy equipment traffic loading.
The sewer portion of the project involves a new sewer line which will collect water that is routinely captured with the collected solids from catch basin cleaning, CDS storm drain unit cleaning and street sweeping. The collected solids are dumped into a designated "wet dump" bin area. The new sewer line will then convey the nuisance water into the City's existing sewer system; subsequently, reducing the amount of ponding water at the site.
The storm drain portion of the project will reconstruct and upsize the existing stormwater catch basin. A small section the storm drain pipe connecting the catch basin with the existing, localized storm drain system at the City Yard will also be removed and replaced. This catch basin serves as the drainage collection point for the upper level area of the City Yard. This catch basin will also be fitted with a Los Angeles County certified connector pipe screen (CPS) full capture device in order to prevent trash and debris from entering the storm drain. This full capture device will add a third tier of storm drain pollution protection to the City maintenance facility in addition to the existing clarifier and CDS storm drain unit that exists on the lower level of the maintenance facility.
Along with all of the aspects mentioned above, this project will accomplish additional Best Management Practices (BMP) pertaining to storm water pollution prevention through improvements to the bulk material storage area of the City maintenance facility (City Yard). This project qualifies as another NPDES stormwater, pollution prevention BMP in addition to those already in place at the lower level of City maintenance facility.
Environmental Review
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires public agencies to document and consider the environmental implications of their actions. Based on the scope of work, the project is categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15303, Class 3(e). A Notice of Exemption has been filed with the Los Angeles County Clerk's office for the project.
DISCUSSION:
Bid Proposals
Bids were solicited on an open and competitive basis in accordance with the provisions of the State Public Contract Code. The project was advertised for bids in eight (8) construction industry publications and was listed on the City's website for upcoming bids. Subsequently thirty-six (36) sets of plans and specifications were provided to contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers.
A total of eleven (11) competitive bids were received and opened on October 22, 2014. The bids ranged from the low bid of $638,213 by Concept Consultant, Inc. to the highest bid of $1,122,360. The Engineer's Estimate for the project was $600,000.
Bid Rejection of Apparent Low Bidder - Concept Consultant, Inc.
Concept Consultant's bid (see Attachment 3) was reviewed by the Public Works Department and found to be non-responsive. The project specifications require for the general contractor to construct at least 50% of the project themselves. After review of the Concept Consultant's list of subcontractors, it was clear that the requirement was not met.
Furthermore, the City received a protest letter from the second low bidder (CHI Construction) drawing attention to and questioning the responsiveness of the apparent low bidder with regards to the self-performance requirement in Section 2-3 of the contract specifications. Concept Consultant was provided the opportunity to respond to the bid review and protest letter, but has failed to provide sufficient proof for a responsive low bid. Therefore, to maintain fairness in the bidding process, the City must reject any bid that is not "responsive". A bid is considered responsive "if it promises to do what the bidding instructions demand".
2nd Low Bidder - Creative Home Inc. DBA CHI Construction
CHI Construction's bid (see Attachment 4) in the amount of $672,262 was reviewed by the Public Works Department and found to be responsive. Representatives of agencies where work has been performed by CHI Construction have indicated that the work performed was to their satisfaction. The project was discussed with a representative of the firm and he expressed confidence in his bid and a desire to perform the work.
Additional Work Authority
Authorizing the City Manager to approve additional work in an amount not-to-exceed $67,738 (10% of bid) would expedite the construction on this project. Projects that involve excavation have a higher probability for encountering unforeseen conditions. If the contingency is approved with this construction contract award, staff will report the status of any additional work to the City Council at the end of the project.
Construction Inspection Services
Staff sent a request for proposals (RFP) to four (4) consultant firms that perform construction management/inspection services. Three (3) proposals were received for construction inspection services for the project. Staff recommends that the contract be awarded to Hamilton & Associates, Inc. due to their familiarity with the site specific requirements of the project, experience managing similar construction projects, and qualifications of project staff proposed. In addition, Hamilton & Associates, Inc. is the geotechnical engineer of record for the project and has in-house special inspection and material testing capabilities. The recommended contract would be in the amount of $113,351 and the construction inspector will be expected to provide general inspection, specialty inspection and material testing in accordance with the plans and specifications for the project as described in Attachment 5.
The recommended contract is for a not-to-exceed amount based on utilizing all 120 working days allowed under the construction contract for construction inspection services. Should the work be completed in fewer days than the construction contract time then actual payment will be based on actual hours worked by Hamilton & Associates, Inc.
Project Schedule
Upon approval of the award of contract, City staff anticipates that construction will start in January 2015 and includes 120 working days for completion. Work would be restricted to non-holiday weekdays. A neighborhood community meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 2014.
Attachments:
1. Budget and Expenditures
2. Project Location Aerial Map
3. Bid Results for Apparent Low Bidder - Concept Consultant, Inc.
4. Construction Contract Agreement - Creative Homes Inc. DBA CHI Construction
5. Inspection Agreement for Professional Services - Hamilton & Associates, Inc.