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1 DATE: February 20, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
Marlene Subhashini, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Derek Schweigart, Parks and Recreation Director
Justin Lai, Public Works Senior Civil Engineer
Amy Zhou, Public Works Assistant Engineer
DEPARTMENT: Parks and Recreation
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) FOR GENERAL
CONTRACTOR FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE
RECREATION CENTER REBUILD PROJECT (CIP 301-678)
RECOMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing staff to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a general contractor for the construction of the Recreation Center Rebuild Project (CIP 301-678) CEQA Status: Adopted IS/MND.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Recreation Center Rebuild Project (CIP 301-678) (Project) is in the construction document phase and a complete plan set is anticipated to be completed in May 2024.
The bidding period is expected to take place between June – August 2024. To streamline the bidding process, staff recommend a prequalification process to ensure that only contractors with demonstrated ability to execute the Project will be eligible to submit bids for the Project. The prequalification of contractors helps to create a pool of bidders that have the quality, capacity, financial soundness, and demonstrated expertise to perform work on a project of this size and complexity. The pre-qualification will eliminate contractors with a history of safety violations, performance failures,
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1 revocation of license, lack of qualifying experience on similar projects, and inadequate bonding capacity.
BACKGROUND
On January 23, 2019, the City Council, by Minute Order No. 1585, accepted the Final Recreation Center Master Plan Conceptual Design Report. On January 31, 2022, the City Council received an update that included the results of a Community Survey to validate the Community Input that had been received in the extensive community engagement that was completed, pre-pandemic, in 2017. The City Council adopted Minute Order No. 1832, directing staff to: 1) Accept the Recreation Center and Parks System Survey results, confirming staff has satisfied the City Council’s interest in validating programming and usage assumptions; 2) Proceed with a “build-to-budget” option for the Recreation Center in an amount not-to-exceed $55 million; and 3) Proceed with utilizing $36 million from the Capital Asset Acquisition and Replacement Fund and $19 million from the General Fund Reserves for the total not-to-exceed budget of $55 million for rebuilding the Recreation Center.
At the City Council regular meeting on November 21, 2022, the City Council awarded an agreement with Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. (“Group 4”) for professional design, bidding, and construction support services. The design phase began in January 2023 with the award of a construction management contract going to Griffin Structures.
At the City Council regular meeting on September 18, 2023, staff and Group 4 presented to City Council a full schematic design presentation which included an estimate of probable construction costs and a list of bid alternatives with cost information for City Council’s consideration. The City Council approved the schematic design and Project budget estimate, as well as provided direction on additional enhancements to be included in the Project.
At the City Council regular meeting on December 18, 2023, staff and Group 4 presented to City Council a full design development presentation which incorporated and reflected the design refinements directed by Council at the meeting on September 18, 2023. The Design Development Project Update was received and accepted unanimously by the Council, and by Minute Order No. 1953, Council directed staff to begin the construction document phase of the design.
Group 4 is continuing to develop the construction documents and anticipates a complete bid package by May 2024. Bidding is anticipated to occur between June 2024 and August 2024 and would be streamlined by the prequalification process.
Construction is estimated to begin in late September 2024. 5 3
1 ANALYSIS
The purpose of the prequalification process is to ensure there is a reasonable prospect that each bidder who participates in submitting a bid will have the demonstrated ability (expertise, capitalization, and resources) to perform the final contract in a satisfactory manner. Prequalification is very common on major projects and was previously utilized for the levee project (CIP 301-657).
The prequalification limits prospective bidders for the specific construction project to contractors who demonstrate themselves to be qualified to construct the project. When the prequalification process is used for a project, only contractors who have complied with the prequalification process and have been determined qualified will be eligible to submit bids for the project.
The Request for Contractor Qualifications (Attachment 2) contains the Notice to Bidders, specifies the license(s) required to perform the work for the Project, and includes the Prequalification Questionnaire. Based on the proposed schedule, the Prequalification Questionnaire will need to be completed in its entirety and submitted by 2:00 PM on March 25, 2024, along with a signed certification statement as stated in the Statement of Understanding.
An evaluation panel comprised of staff and Griffin Structures will review and evaluate the submittals to determine a list of qualified contractors eligible to bid on the project.
A formal Notice of Determination will be issued by the City to each contractor who submits a complete response to the Request for Contractor Qualifications at least 10 days prior to solicitation of bids. A list of prequalified contractors will be available during the bid period from the City. Based on the current schedule, the Call for bids for the construction contract is anticipated for June through August 2024.
Staff is recommending the City Council adopt the attached Resolution authorizing the issuance of the Request for Contractor Qualifications.
CEQA
The City of Foster City, as lead agency, prepared an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for this project in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which was adopted by the Planning Commission on November 16, 2023 as part of the project for the demolition of the existing Recreation Center and construction of a new approximately 40,000 square foot, two story Recreation Center and Use Permit modification to allow the demolition and construction of the new Recreation Center in the approximate same location with supplemental landscaping.
The IS/MND was circulated for public review and comments from July 26, 2023 to August 15, 2023. A total of four (4) public comments were received and Responses to Comment (RTC) was completed and notification of availability was sent to all commenters.
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1 A Notice of Determination was filed on November 21, 2023.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact from this action.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Facilities and Infrastructure
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Request for Contractor Qualifications