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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 7(D) Date: November 20, 2012 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Jerry Bradshaw, Public Works Director / City Engineer Subject: Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project, City Project No. C-3063, Federal Project No. CML-5239 (020) ACTION REQUESTED Adopt a resolution for the following: 1) Approve plans for the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project; 2) Reject the bid from California Constructores, Inc. as non-responsive and accept all other bids; 3) Amend the Capital Improvement Program to transfer an amount not to exceed $160,000 of Measure A Street Improvement Funds from the Annual Street Improvement Program to the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project; and 4) Authorize the City Manager to award a contract, contingent on successful negotiations with Redgwick Construction Company (the lowest responsible bidder for the project) for a deductive change order after undergoing a value engineering process which is not inconsistent with the revised budget for the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project, City Project No. C-3063. BACKGROUND Project Description The Central Avenue and Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project is intended to improve walking and biking routes to transit, support high-density infill development, and enhance the sense of place and quality of life in the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station Area. This project arose out of various efforts in the City of El Cerrito. Through its General Plan policies, Circulation Plan, and Draft San Pablo Specific Plan, the City has identified the El Cerrito Plaza area as a high-activity node and has identified the need for streetscape improvements to enhance pedestrian and bicycle facilities to businesses and transit. Central Avenue and Fairmount Avenue play key roles in the Plaza Area as the primary east-west corridors for travel. Liberty Street, bordering the main BART parking lot, connects these corridors and leads directly into the Plaza shopping center. ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No.7(D) Page 2 The project is located on four blocks of Central Avenue from San Pablo Avenue to the Ohlone Greenway and one block of Liberty Street from Central Avenue to Fairmount Avenue. The project is within El Cerrito’s San Pablo Avenue Priority Development Area approved by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). The scope of the project includes sidewalk replacement, decorative concrete on median noses, pedestrian- level lighting, curb bulb-outs, curb ramps, high-visibility crosswalk signing and striping, bike route signing and striping, a speed table, street trees, and street furniture. The estimated cost for planning, design and construction of the Central Avenue and Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project is $1,020,000. Grant Funding The project is funded by two separate Transportation for Livable Communities Programs. The first is a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, federal grant in the amount of $816,000 from the Contra Costa County Portion of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC’s) Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program. The second is a Measure J, countywide half-cent sales tax grant in the amount of $204,000. Public Works staff applied for the two competitive grants in early 2010, and the City was fortunate in being awarded both of them in the summer of 2010. In October 2010, the City Council approved Resolution 2010-64 authorizing the City Manager to execute a Cooperative Agreement between the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) for the use of Measure J funds on this project. In April 2011, the City also received authorization to proceed with the use of the federal grant on the design phase of the project. Coordination with BART City staff has closely coordinated the scope of sidewalk and tree work around the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station with BART, due to a pending transfer of sidewalk ownership from BART to the City. The tree roots located within the sidewalk areas around the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station have displaced the sidewalk, curb, gutter and street surface in numerous locations and many trees are close to the end of their safe and useful life expectancy. BART and the City were both able to secure different funding sources for various pedestrian, bicycle, accessibility, landscaping and lighting improvements around the BART Station. Sidewalk and tree replacement on Richmond Street, Willow Street and Central Avenue, between Richmond Street and the Ohlone Greenway, is part of BART’s Sidewalk and Wayfinding Improvements Project, which is currently under construction and anticipated to be completed by the end of this year. The work on Liberty Street and the remaining section of Central Avenue will be part of the City’s project. The project was advertised for bid in the West County Times on August 16 and 22, 2012. Notices were mailed directly to all contractors on our bidders list and several plan rooms. ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No.7(D) Page 3 ANALYSIS Five bids were received on September 25, 2012 with the following results: Name Location Bid California Constructores San Pablo $ 853,596.00 Redgwick Construction Company Newark $ 997,635.00 McGuire & Hester Oakland $ 1,176,242.00 J.A. Gonsalves & Sons Construction Napa $ 1,314,464.00 W.R. Forde Associates Richmond $ 1,352,564.50 Engineer’s Estimate $ 789,388.38 Numerous irregularities were present in the low bid submitted by California Constructores, including: several illegible unit prices, alterations, interlineations and erasures in bid schedule made without the required initialed acknowledgement, mathematical errors, amount of bid bond provided was less than required, incomplete forms, and unendorsed forms. As such, Staff recommends rejection of California Constructores’ bid as non-responsive. The next low bidder is Redgwick Construction Company (contractor’s license # 140057, Class Their bid is $997,635.00 for the Base Bid and Additive Alternate One. The original construction cost estimate was $839,000 including contingencies. As the project was put out to bid, the Engineer’s Estimate was $789,400 plus 10% contingencies. Because of the increase in estimated costs, staff developed the bid document to include a bid alternate to enable scaling down of the project after bidding. However, the extent to which costs have increased was not anticipated. In comparing the lowest responsive bid to the Engineer’s Estimate the cost of construction of the project has risen by approximately 26%. This is a trend being experienced by other Local Agencies in the Bay Area as well. This is the second project in recent months that has come in significantly over budget (reference the Potrero Safety Project at the 10/16/12 Council meeting) – an indication of a trend that shows no sign in abating. As with the previous project award, staff has considered three options: 1. Reject all bids, redesign the project, and go out to bid again. With prices rising, staff does not recommend this option as it would take longer and expose the City to even higher prices. 2. Award the project and rely on the value engineering process to reduce the total project costs through deductive change orders. Staff has worked with the designers on several value engineering options to lower the project costs without jeopardizing any of the major elements of the project or the intent of the original ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No.7(D) Page 4 federal grant. However, we do not anticipate achieving enough savings to make the existing budget work. 3. Secure additional funding. Staff contacted the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), this county’s congestion management agency through which federal transportation grants are passed, and found that the upcoming One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) funding might be eligible for this project. In the draft OBAG process, each municipality in the county will be allocated an amount of funding for street paving. For El Cerrito, this amount is set at $630,060. CCTA staff indicated that if we desired to use this money for other federal-eligible projects, we could apply to redirect it accordingly. City staff began the application process, but pulled back as we learned that the timing would not match the timing of this project. Based on this, staff is recommending that El Cerrito Measure A Street Improvement funds be used instead to make up any shortfall. Since both our local Measure A money and the OBAG funding would ultimately be used for street paving, either source would have the same net effect with one exception: by preserving OBAG funding for street paving, that money can only be used on arterial and collector streets whereas Measure A funds may be used on local streets as well. However, that does not pose a disadvantage since arterials and collectors are being planned for paving work in the coming few years. As with the Potrero project last month, staff is recommending a combination approach of value engineering and additional funding. Because we are still in the competitive bidding process, the City cannot negotiate with any bidder. Therefore, we cannot know the actual value of a deductive change. Staff has conservatively estimated that approximately $200,000 can be deducted from the project budget through a reduction in project scope. This would be done primarily by omitting the sidewalk replacement on the west side of Liberty Street, omitting the permanent irrigation system for the new landscaping, and omitting a rain garden, which was one of the additive alternates. To accommodate the elimination of the permanent irrigation system, the planting plan will also need to be modified to consist of drought-tolerant tree species that will be irrigated for a two-year period using portable watering systems, such as slow-release water bags. Based on these proposed deductions and modifications, based on that, approximately $110,000 of Measure A funds would be needed to cover the remaining shortfall. Staff is requesting authorization for up to $160,000 of additional funding to allow for the uncertainty of the negotiation process that lies ahead. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS This project is originally funded through the TLC grant with matching funds from the Measure J TLC program for a total project budget of $1,020,000. With the additional $160,000 from Measure A, the amended project budget would be $1,180,000. If staff is successful in deducting more from the project through the value engineering process, a corresponding lower amount of Measure A funds would be transferred. Below is a summary of the original and estimated revised budgets. This also includes revisions to the estimated costs for design administration and construction phase soft costs. ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 7(D) Attachment 1 RESOLUTION 2012 – XX RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL CERRITO AMENDING THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM TO TRANSFER AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $160,000 OF MEASURE A STREET IMPROVEMENT FUNDS FROM THE ANNUAL STREET IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM TO THE CENTRAL AVENUE AND LIBERTY STREET STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO REDGWICK CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN AN AMOUNT TO BE DETERMINED AFTER UNDERGOING A VALUE ENGINEERING PROCESS FOR THE CENTRAL AVENUE AND LIBERTY STREET STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, CONTRACT NO. C-3063 WHEREAS, City Council previously authorized bids for this project as part of the Capital Improvement Program; and WHEREAS, the project was advertised for bids on August 16 and 22, 2012 and five bids were received on September 25, 2012; and WHEREAS, the lowest apparent bid received by California Constructores is determined to be non-responsive; and WHEREAS, the lowest responsive, responsible bidder was Redgwick Construction Company whose total bid, in the amount of $997,635, was 26 percent above the Engineer’s Estimate; and WHEREAS, staff intends to pursue value engineering options to reduce project costs without jeopardizing any of the critical elements of the project or the intent of the original federal grant application; and WHEREAS, the current funding for this project is provided through the Contra Costa County Portion of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC’s) Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program and the Measure J – TLC Program; and WHEREAS, Measure A Street Improvement funds are eligible for roadway projects such as this; and WHEREAS, the City has the authority to authorize the City Manager to award the contract for this project pursuant to the established common-law doctrine articulated in the case of Graydon v. Pasadena Redevelopment Agency (1980) 104 Cal.App. 3d 631. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of El Cerrito hereby approves the following: 1) Approves plans the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvement Project; 2) Rejects the bid from California Constructores as non-responsive and accepts all other bids; 3) Amends the Capital Improvement Program to transfer an amount not to exceed $160,000 of Measure A Street Improvement Funds from the Annual Street Improvement Program to the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project; and ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 7(D) Attachment 1 4) Authorizes the City Manager to award a contract, contingent on successful negotiations with Redgwick Construction Company (the lowest responsible bidder for the project) for a deductive change order after undergoing a value engineering process which is not inconsistent with the revised budget for the Central Avenue & Liberty Street Streetscape Improvements Project, City Project No. C-3063. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon passage and adoption. I CERTIFY that at a regular meeting on November 20, 2012 the City Council of the City of El Cerrito passed this Resolution by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: IN WITNESS of this action, I sign this document and affix the corporate seal of the City of El Cerrito on November XX, 2012. Cheryl Morse, City Clerk APPROVED: William C. Jones III, Mayor