HomeMy WebLinkAbout12 - Balboa Boulevard at Washington Street Parking LotCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Agenda Item No. 12
September 28, 2010
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Public Works Department
Fong Tse, Principal Civil Engineer
949 - 644 -3321 or ftse @newportbeachca.gov
SUBJECT: BALBOA BOULEVARD AT WASHINGTON STREET PARKING LOT —
AWARD OF CONTRACT NO. 4479
ISSUE:
Staff requests City Council approval to award the Balboa Boulevard at Washington Street
Parking Lot Project to M &E Construction.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Approve the project drawings and specifications.
2. Award Contract No. 4479 to M &E Construction for the Total Bid Price of $157,000.00
and authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the contract.
3. Establish an amount of $18,200.00 to cover the cost of unforeseen work.
DISCUSSION:
The City last year bought the former Balboa Market located at 608 E. Balboa Boulevard to
construct a new municipal surface parking lot that mirrors the existing adjacent "Palm
Street" parking lot. Staff accordingly prepared the plans and specifications and advertised
the project for bids.
At 9:00 AM on September 9, 2010, the City Clerk opened and read the following bids for
this project:
BIDDER
TOTAL BID AMOUNT
Low
M & E Construction
$157,000.00 (1)
2
Jeff Tracy, Inc. DBA Land Forms Landscape
160,936.25
3
Elite companies U.S
164,320.75
4
B & T Works, Inc.
183,812.50
5
YAKAR
187,625.00
6
Ben's Asphalt
197,204.50 (2)
7
All American Asphalt
198,198.00
8
Hardy & Harper, Inc.
204,793.75
9
Nobest, Inc.
237,000.00
Balboa Boulevard at Washington Street Parking Lot Project Award of Contract No.4479
September 28, 2010
Page 2
(1) The bid was read as $145,000.00 at bid opening.
(2) The bid was read as $197,206.50 at bid opening.
The low total bid amount is approximately 10.3% lower than the Engineer's Estimate of
$175,000.00. The low bidder, M &E Construction (M &E), possesses a California State
Contractors License Classification "A" as required by the project specifications. A check of
M &E's references indicates satisfactory completion of similar projects mostly as a
subcontractor for other local public agencies.
The second low bidder, Land Forms, submitted the attached protest letter the day after bid
opening, questioning M &E's ability to complete the work. Staff discussed the issue with
M &E and has determined that M &E has satisfied the contract requirements.
When completed, the new parking lot will have thirty (30) regular parking spaces, two (2)
handicapped parking spaces, at grade integrally colored and patterned concrete landings
and bands, three (3) interior parking lot lights, landscaping, irrigation, striping, and a
widened regular concrete sidewalk along the Washington Street frontage. As a part of this
project, the existing adjacent "Palm Street" parking lot will be slurry sealed and receive new
striping which will provide both lots with a more coherent appearance. The existing two (2)
driveway approaches along Balboa Boulevard will be closed and replaced with new full
height curb and gutter. One (1) on- street parking space will be added on Balboa Boulevard
at the "Balboa Market driveway" plug. Both the "Palm Street" and the new parking lot will
each be served by a parking pay station to be installed by the Administrative Services
Parking Meters Division after the parking lot work has been completed.
The existing market building will be demolished and removed under separate contract by a
building demolition contractor ahead of the parking lot construction. The new curved Balboa
Village concrete entry monument sign will be constructed by a separate sign specialty
contractor concurrent with the parking lot work.
Pursuant to the Contract Specifications, M &E has thirty (30) consecutive working days to
complete the work, but no later than December 15, 2010. If work completion is delayed
beyond the December 15, 2010 deadline, the Contract stipulated a liquidated damages
assessment in the amount $2,000 per calendar day.
Consultant geotechnical services will not be required for this project since staff expects the
subgrade existing at the site to be acceptable beach sand.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND PERMIT:
This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to
Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines. This exemption covers the minor alteration of
existing public facilities with negligible expansion of the facilities in areas that are not
environmentally sensitive.
A California Coastal Commission (CCC) Development De Minimis Waiver has been issued
for this project.
Balboa Boulevard at Washington Street Parking Lot Project Award of Contract No.4479
September 28, 2010
Page 3
PUBLIC NOTICE:
The Notice Inviting Bids was advertised in the City's official publication and in construction
industry publications. Prior to starting work, two -City prepared notices will be distributed by
the Contractor to residents within the project vicinity. The first notice will be distributed ten
days before work in the area and the second notice 48 hours prior to starting work in the
area.
FUNDING AVAILABILITY:
Sufficient funds are available in the following account for the project.
Account Description
Balboa Blvd/Washington St Parking Lot
Proposed uses are as follows:
Account Number Amount
7024- C3002008 1 176,200.00
Total: $ 176,200.00
Vendor Purpose Amount
M &E Construction Construction Contract $ 157,000.00
M &E Construction Construction Contingency $ 18,200.00
Various Construction Support, Printing and Incidentals $ 1,000.00
Total: $ 176,200.00
Prepared by:
Civil Engineer
Submitted by:
Attachments: Project Location Map
Protest Letter from Land Forms Landscape
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BALBOA BLVD./ WASHINGTON ST. PARKING LOT
C -4479
J. Tracy, Inc. DBA
.d Forms
,ape Construclion
September 10, 2010
Mr. Stephen G. Badum
Director of Public Works
City of Newport Beaeb
P.O. Box 1768
Newport Beach, CA 92658 -8915
Re.: Balboa Blvd. at Washington Street Parking Lot bid results
Letter of Protest
Dear Mr. Badum,
Please accept this letter as Land Forms Landscape Construction's formal letter of protest of the
apparent low bid submitted by M &E Construction (M &E) for the above referenced project.
The following information is presented as support for our protest, and as a result of the
information we provide, we believe the City of Newport Beach will be compelled to consider the
bid of M &E Construction as non - responsive.
First, and most obvious, is the absence of listed subcontractors. We, as an A license contractor
understand that we are allowed by the covenants of an A license to pretty much self - perform all
tasks related to construction, however, that does not mean we should, or that we are qualified.
The Designation of Subcontractors section of the bid documents states, "If a subcontractor is
not listed, the Contractor represents that he /she is fully qualified to and will be responsible to
perform that portion of the work. " We interpret this as meaning a contractor possesses
satisfactory experience. Our research indicates that M& E Construction is primarily a home -
builder and as such is almost always engaged in subcontractor relationships on their projects. Of
particular interest on this project is the installation of slurry that has been specified. Prior to bid
time, we consulted several a/c paving companies regarding the slurry portion of the work.
Without exception, they all deferred to specialty contractors for this work. We do not believe
that M &E is qualified to self - perform this work. In fact, we request the City review all bids
submitted in an effort to identify the bidders that listed a subcontractor for this work. We believe
that any contractor that bid this project and did not list a slurry subcontractor be subjected to
scrutiny. At minimum, we would expect the City to further investigate M &E's ability to perform
the specialty work items with intense diligence. We do not believe they are qualiffe d to perform
all of the work this project requires.
CA Lie # 712339
AZ Lie # 105723
Southern California 27601 Forbes Road, Suite 36 • Laguna Niguel, California 92677 -1237 • (949) 582 -0877 Fax (949) 582 -0876
Second is the glaring math error that resulted in an announced M &E Construction bid of
$145,000. Once we calculated their unit prices against the stated quantities, we discovered that
their bid should total $157,000, $12,000 higher than their announced bid. If the City accepts
M &E's bid at $145,000, there is an impossibility of making the unit prices add up to their
$145,000 total. Any manipulation of these numbers after -the -fact should absolutely deem their
bid as non - responsive, and certainly non - responsible. If the City awards the work to M &E based
on the $157,000 figure, what you would be saying is it is ok to make mistakes on a public bid. In
fact, we will reward you with an additional $12,000 for your efforts. This seems unfair, at
minimum, to all of the other responsive and responsible bidders that were bound to the
documents.
Third, we scrutinized M &E's unit prices and discovered a gross abuse of the bid form. Their
mobilization unit price is way off as a percentage of the entire project and in no way represents
the intent of the mobilization item as defined in the bid documents. These are definitely acts of a
non - responsible bidder. Close investigation of the M &E bid reveals numerous incidents where
the unit price listed cannot cover the costs of the work to be performed, thereby making a
complete mockery of the bid schedule. For example, M &E lists the three new parking lot lights
with a unit price of $2,000 each, resulting in a bid item total of $6,000. We have a quote from
our electrical subcontractor revealing the cost alone of the three specified light standards is
$11,445.00, excluding labor, equipment and allowable mark -up. We ask that you compare the
M &E bid to the others that were submitted, after which we are confident you will find their bid
to be markedly inconsistent.
Based on first -hand experience, mistakes of this type result in a bid being determined non-
responsive.
Land Forms has a solid working relationship with the City of Newport Beach from previous
work, and are confident in our ability to perform with a high degree of professionalism and
expected quality.
We look forward to the City's decision to find M &E's bid non - responsive and non - responsible,
and the subsequent award of the project to Land Forms Landscape Construction.
Sincerely,
Land Forms Landscape Construction
Jeff Tracy, President
CA Lie # 712339
AZ Lie # 105723
Southern California 27601 Forbes Road, Suite 36 • Laguna Niguel, California 92677 -1237 - (949) 582 -0877 Fax (949) 582 -0876