Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Award of the Construction Contract for the Downtown Civic Center Connectivity and Safety Project
Date: January 24, 2023
Written by: Craig Scott, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Recommendation
It is recommended the City Council adopt a resolution awarding the Downtown Civic Center Connectivity and Safety Project (Project) to JV Lucas Paving, Inc. and rejecting the protest by Argonaut, Inc. and authorizing the City Manager to execute the construction contract for the Project, the Engineering Support Services During Construction, the Construction Management and Inspection Agreement and any needed change orders and amendments up to the approved project budget.
Background
The City’s Five-Year Capital Improvements Program includes a list of street paving projects. The paving projects are based on a Pavement Management Program (PMP), updated every 2 years, which guides the identification and prioritization of street pavement maintenance projects. The PMP provides strategies to prioritize the annual roadway projects based on their condition and treatment costs.
Pavement maintenance projects are significantly funded by, and made possible by, Measure S, the City’s local revenue measure; and City Council continues to prioritize street repair and maintenance. Expenditures are detailed in the annual Measure S reports. This project is to be additionally funded using the Streets Improvements Lease issued in January of 2022 and State and Federal roadway grants. The City has completed approximately $5.7 million of roadway rehabilitation in the last two years and has made considerable progress in improving the condition of its roadways.
Analysis/Discussion
The Downtown Civic Center Connectivity and Safety Project (Project) is included in the City’s current Five-Year Capital Improvement Program. The Project extents are shown on the figure attached to the resolution and consists of pavement rehabilitation of all six segments of La Plaza and the length of West Sierra Avenue from Old Redwood Highway west to the City limits (just past the Highway 101 overpass). Complete set of plans and specifications are available at <https://cleargov.com/california/sonoma/city/cotati/projects> and at the Public Works/Engineering Office at City Hall.
On July 27, 2021, City Council approved the design agreement for the Project. Bid documents were finalized and the Project was advertised for bidding on November 18th, 2022. On December 20, 2022, six bids were received, with the low bid provided by JV Lucas Paving, Inc. for an amount of $1,997,474.00 which is nearly 22 percent under the engineer’s estimate. The bid summary is attached. The low bid was evaluated and was determined to be a responsive bid.
Argonaut Constructors, Inc., the second low bidder submitted a bid protest (attached to resolution).
The protest asserts that JV Lucas, Inc.’s bid did not comply with the requirements of the bid package regarding listing subcontractors and had not submitted the Good Faith Efforts documentation required. JV Lucas, Inc. submitted a response to the bid protest (attached to resolution).
Staff, and their consultant, carefully reviewed JV Lucas, Inc.’s bid, the protest, and JV Lucas, Inc’s response and recommends the protest be rejected. As to the first argument, JV Lucas, Inc’s bid, for the reasons noted in JV Lucas, Inc’s response, met the requirements of the bid package and were waivable in any event. The argument was with the two lists of subcontractors, there were contractors on the second list not listed on the first. This is waived since all subcontractors to work on the project were identified in the bid. As to the second argument, JV Lucas, Inc’s did provide the DBE and Good Faith Effort documents. In accordance with the bid documents, the City is to request DBE and Good Faith Effort documents of the low three bidders following the bid opening.
Both Argonaut and JV Lucas provided these documents following the bid opening. GHD, Inc completed an evaluation of the apparent low bidder’s Good Faith Efforts based on Section 9.9 of the Local Assistance Procedures Manual and Appendix A in Part 26 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The City determined that the Low Bidder did demonstrate Good Faith Efforts to meet the DBE participation goal of this Project.
The City issued a request for proposals for Construction Management services and selected GHD, Inc. from the sixteen proposals received, based on their being best qualified to perform these services for this Project. The other firms were highly qualified, and the discerning factor was GHD’s experience in successfully managing State grant funded road paving projects for the City.
City staff requested and GHD, Inc. provided a proposal for Construction Management and Inspection services for and amount not to exceed $341,261. City staff has reviewed the proposal and finds it to be fair and reasonable.
City staff requested and GHD, Inc. provided a proposal for Engineering Services During Construction, and this effort is proposed to be included in Amendment 4 to the Design agreement for an additional amount of $24,285.
During Design, additional unforeseen work was needed to address the federal environmental requirements leading to delays in submittal of the Right-of-Way Certification and Encroachment Permit documents to Caltrans and the City’s project was required to submit an Advanced Construction application, a new and unexpected procedure. This additional effort, needed to proceed with obtaining the approval for construction from Caltrans, and more frequent meetings resulting in extra services exceeding the budget. GHD, Inc provided a proposal for this extra work, in an amount of $9,516, and the City has reviewed it and finds it to be fair and reasonable and recommends it for approval.
Both the Engineering Support During Construction and extra services are proposed to be included in Amendment 4 to the Design agreement with GHD, Inc. The added cost of both the Engineering Support During Construction and Extra Services brings the total design agreement amount to $189,158.
Financial Considerations
Accounting for the construction contract, engineering support services during construction and Construction Management professional services, additional design fee to address unforeseen environmental requirements and change orders, amendments, and a 15 percent contingency, the total project budget is $2,878,703. No additional appropriation of funds is being requested. A breakdown of the prior and proposed Project costs are as follows:
Design
Construction Contract
Construction Mgmt. & Eng. Support
Contingency
Total
$ 189,158 $
1,997,474 $
341,261 $
350,810 $
2,878,703
The City’s budget includes State and Federal grants which have been awarded to the City and consist of $1,008,000 from One Bay Area Grant 2 (OBAG2) and $242,000 from a Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, (CRRSA) grant. The City is in good standing on delivering prior grant funded projects and is to follow strict and extensive procedural and reporting requirements to remain eligible for this grant funding.
Environmental Issues
The Project is subject to the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Act requirements (CEQA). The City completed necessary documents and the Project was found to be Categorically Exempt under CEQA under Sections 15301, 15302, and 15303, and the Project is a Categorically Exclusion under NEPA 23 CFR 771.117(c): activity (c)(3).