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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-06-09 City Council (2)TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: UTILITIES DATE: SUBJECT: JUNE 9, 2003 CMR: 294:03 REJECTION OF BIDS RECEIVED ON JANUARY 7, 2003 FOR SUBSTRUCTURE, ELECTRIC CABLE AND EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION FOR UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 38 (HIGH STREET, COWPER AVENUE, OREGON EXPRESSWAY, COLORADO AVENUE) RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that Council reject al! bids received on January 7, 2003 for the installation of the utility trench, substructures, electric cables and electric equipment for Underground Utility District No. 38. BACKGROUND At its meeting on February 23, 1998, the Council adopted Ordinance No. 4483 creating Underground Utility District No. 38 for the High Street, Cowper Avenue, Oregon Expressway and Colorado Avenue area. As indicated in CMR: 440:97, this project involves constructing an underground distribution system in an area which meets both City and SBC guidelines for undergrounding. The new underground system was to be installed in the public right-of-way and constructed in four phases: Phase I Substructure installation by the contractor, consisting of trenching and placement of conduits, vaults, boxes and pads in the public right-of-way and in public utility easements. Phase II Installation, testing and energizing of new underground distribution cables, switches and transformers. CMR: 294:03 Page 1 of 3 Phase III Phase IV Customer service conversions - all affected property owners will be required to connect to the new underground system. Removal of all overhead lines and poles. A notice inviting formal bids for proceeding with Phases I and II was sent to 6 contractors on November 26, 2002. The bidding period was 42 calendar days because of the complexity and magnitude of the project. A mandatory pre-bid meeting was held on December 17, 2002, with seven prospective bidders attending. Bids were received from five qualified contractors on January 7, 2003 as listed on the attached bid summary (Attachment A). Bids ranged from $1,754,171 to $3,342,685. DISCUSSION Staff recommends that the Council reject the bids for the following reasons: SBC has refused to sign the City’s Specific Agreement for Joint Participation Installation of Underground Facilities for Underground District No. 38. The Specific Agreement authorizes sharing of joint trench costs between the City, SBC and Comcast Corporation as specified in the Amended Master Agreement for Installation of Underground Facilities Systems By and Between the City of Palo Alto, Pacific Bell and Cable Coop (Less Than $25,000) dated September 24, 1990. SBC wants the City to sign a new agreement that is unacceptable to the city because it would impose unacceptable additiona! costs for Underground District No. 38 and future underground districts. As in previous underground districts, District 38 has been engineered using joint utility trench construction. It is not possible to proceed with construction of Underground District No. 38 as bid without a signed Specific Agreement for Joint Participation. o More than 60 days have elapsed since the bid opening date with no progress on resolving the Specific Agreement issues with SBC. Staff needs more time to evaluate project alternatives, and contractors who bid this project will want to release their bid bonds. It should be noted that the lack of a Joint Construction Agreement does not invalidate Underground District 37 as enacted in an Ordinance by the City Council. SBC is still required to underground its facilities. CMR: 294:03 Page 2 of 3 Staff is currently reviewing different alternatives for completing the construction of Underground District 38. These alternatives will include different construction alternatives as well as continued negotiations with SBC to resolve the issues on the joint trench agreement. One of the construction alternatives studied will be have each utility underground its facilities under separate construction contracts to eliminate the need to have a joint agreement with SBC. Staff will return to council with a report on the alternatives and give a recommendation on how to proceed with Underground District 38 once the alternatives have been studied. ATTACHMENTS A: Bid Summary B: Project Location Map PREPARED BY:Tom Finch DEPARTMENT HEAD: CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: ~r of Utilities EMI~HARRISON Assistant City Manager CMR: 294:03 Page 3 of 3 S L ,J ZZ K IL! Z r~ x~ r’, Z r~© APPROVED TDP ENGINEER ~N~ I DRAWN i CHECKED i ...... UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 38 CITY OF PALO ALTO CALIFORNIA DESCRIPTIONREVDATE APPR SCALE WORK ORDEP DRAWING NO.