Administrative
Report
H.16., File # 22-3741 Meeting Date: 2/15/2022
To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: TED SEMAAN, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
TITLE
APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE CITY ENGINEER TO EXECUTE CONSTRUCTION CHANGE ORDERS UP TO 15% OF CONTRACT VALUE, EXCEEDING THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY LIMIT OF 10% OF CONTRACT VALUE, FOR COMPLETION OF THE REDONDO BEACH TRANSIT CENTER PROJECT, JOB NO. 20120
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Redondo Beach Transit Center Project, Job No. 20120 (“Project”), is the City’s largest active infrastructure improvement project. The project was initially funded in FY 2007-08, and design began in 2009. The Project is now in the construction phase after design was completed in 2016. The long duration of the design period, loss of the design firm, and the gap between completion of design and beginning of construction in September of 2020, has resulted in a number of issues that have made construction of the project difficult.
A number of construction change orders (CCO’s) have been issued to accommodate significant design deficiencies, unforeseen field conditions, and required scope modifications. As a result, the change order authority afforded to the City Engineer by City Council Resolution 7614 and memorialized in APP 14.1, which is limited to 10% of the contract value for projects of this size, has been reached for Phase 1 of the project. Rather than requiring a return to City Council for each forthcoming CCO, staff recommends the City Council increase the City Engineer’s CCO authority for this contract in order to complete the Project in the most efficient way possible.
The project team anticipates one large CCO and several smaller ones in the coming months, required to complete Phase 1 of the project. (Phase 2 has not begun yet and no CCO’s have encumbered against the budget for that phase of the project.) The largest anticipated Phase 1 CCO is for improvements to the upper parking lot. As bid, the surface rehabilitation of the pavement to make ready the upper parking lot for bus traffic and vehicle use is unrealistic. Proper rehabilitation of the three plus acre site will require an additional $500,000.
In addition to the upper parking lot CCO, Staff anticipates another $400,000 to $500,000 (~4% to 5%) in potential CCO’s, due to deficiencies in the plans and specifications. Therefore, Staff is recommending the City Council approve an increase in the contingency amount for the project in the amount of $1,075,000, inclusive of a not to exceed CCO in the amount of $500,000 for the changes to the upper parking lot rehabilitation and authorize the City Engineer to issue up to another 5% of the awarded contract value in future CCO’s.
H.16., File # 22-3741 Meeting Date: 2/15/2022
No additional funding is required. The anticipated change orders are fully funded by available transportation restricted grant funds. The alternatives to providing the increased change order authority would include not completing the upper parking lot at all, or leaving it to another project, such as the repaving project now in design for the portion of Kingsdale Avenue south of Grant Avenue. However, staff recommends approval of the additional authority as outlined, since there is grant funding available in the project account to complete the work.
BACKGROUND
On May 19, 2020, the City Council awarded a construction contract in the amount of $11,500,000 for two related projects (also called two phases) involving the City’s new transit center. The first phase includes the construction of the new transit center and improvements to the parking area, which is scheduled to be complete at the end of June 2022.
The second phase (formally known as the Kingsdale Avenue Widening Project, Job No. 41150) will begin upon substantial completion of the first phase and includes demolition of the old transit center, restoration of the site, and widening of the northbound side of Kingsdale Avenue between Grant Avenue and Artesia Boulevard.
For the purposes of managing change orders, the projects are being tracked separately. The contract value for the first phase (the Project) is $9,900,000 and for the second phase is $1,600,000.
To date, five CCO’s have been authorized by the City Engineer for Phase 1 of the project. These have addressed demolition of prestressed concrete structures, design changes and extra work due to discovery of buried debris and unsuitable soils within the footprints of the building and drainage detention basin, and interfering with water and electrical trenches, additional request from METRO regarding signage and automated ticket vending machine, reengineering of the building and site electrical system to meet new demands and owner needs, additional framing, site and utility work which is needed but not included in the bid plan set.
The project team has a number of other identified changes pending, related to similar project issues.
The most significant of these concerns is the paving at the upper parking lot. The project as designed and bid called for pavement rehabilitation in the form of a 2-inch grind and overlay of the asphalt. However, upon closer inspection, the existing pavement is less than two inches thick in places and is founded on an unsuitable base for anticipated traffic loads.
Working with the design team and contractor, a revised rehabilitation treatment was proposed that involves crushing the existing asphalt to serve as base material and bringing in sufficient new asphalt to accommodate the bus and passenger vehicle traffic expected in the lot.
The additional cost is currently estimated at just under $500,000, which, while a significant increase, is founded on a fair unit price for the nearly 3.1 acre site. Staff is still negotiating with the contractor to see what adjustments can be made to lower the price.
In addition, staff anticipates approximately four to five thousand dollars in potential CCO’s based on current intelligence. To accommodate these, without having to take time for each one to be reviewed by the City Council, staff is also recommending that authorization be granted to the City
H.16., File # 22-3741 Meeting Date: 2/15/2022
Engineer to approve up to another 5% of the project’s awarded contract value.
As discussed below, funding is available in the current project budget, which is entirely comprised of external grant funding. Staff is seeking Council’s authorization to approve funding for the additional change orders to address changes in project conditions.
COORDINATION
The Engineering Services Division is working with the Transit Division and the project’s consultants for project and construction management to track, negotiate and manage the change order and contract administration process.
FISCAL IMPACT
At the time of construction contract award, the City approved $14,052,254 for the project. These funds had multiple sources including Federal, County and Regional transit programs. The approved FY 21-22 CIP included another $2,750,000 in Regional Measure M funds. The available funding for the project now totals $16,802,254. No City unrestricted funds are used to fund this project.
If approved, the request being made would authorize the City Engineer to encumber up to another $1,075,000 to address known and potential change orders.
To date, the budgeted project funds have been encumbered per the following table, totaling $15,172,869. This leaves approximately $1,629,385 in unencumbered funding that is available for this request.
Vendor Encumbrance
HW Abatement $ 162,200 (Ellis, Resource Env.)
MSCMG (Prime Contractor)
Phase 1 Award value $ 9,900,000 (work underway)
Phase 1 Contingency $ 990,000 (committed in first five CCOs) Phase 2 Award value $ 1,600,000 (work not yet begun)
Phase 2 Contingency $ 160,000 (held, but not yet committed) Ardurra (CM/Inspection) $ 1,210,000 (includes second amendment) PAE (Project Mgmt) $ 830,000 (includes seventh amendment) Design Support (various firms) $ 320,669 (total of 7 firms involved) Total $15,172,869
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager