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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 13662 City of Palo Alto (ID # 13662) City Council Staff Report Meeting Date: 5/23/2022 Report Type: Consent Calendar City of Palo Alto Page 1 Title: Approval of 1) Increase of Construction Contingency for Contract No. C20174550 with Granite Construction in the Amount of $185,302; and 2) Budget Amendments in the Electric Fund for the Electric Customer Connection project (EL-89028), the Fiber Optics Fund for the Fiber Optics Network–System Improvements project (FO-10001), and the Capital Improvement Fund for the Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass project (PE-11011) From: City Manager Lead Department: Public Works Recommendation Staff recommends that Council: 1. Approve an additional construction contingency for Contract No. C20174550 with Granite Construction Company in an amount not to exceed $185,302, and for a total contract contingency amount not to exceed $1,569,794 for the Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass Project (PE-11011); and 2. Amend the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Appropriation (requires a 2/3 majority vote) for the following funds: a. Electric Fund: i. Decreasing the appropriation for Electric Customer Connection project (EL-89028) in the amount of $10,255; ii. Increasing the Transfer to the Capital Improvement Fund appropriation in the amount of $10,255; b. Fiber Optics Fund: i. Decreasing the appropriation for Fiber Optics Network–System Improvements project (FO-10001) in the amount of $54,290; ii. Increasing the Transfer to the Capital Improvement Fund appropriation in the amount of $54,290; c. Capital Improvement Fund: i. Increasing the Transfer from the Electric Fund estimate in the amount of $10,255; ii. Increasing the Transfer from the Fiber Optics Fund estimate in the amount of $54,290; City of Palo Alto Page 2 iii. Increasing the Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass project (PE- 11011) appropriation in the amount of $64,545. Executive Summary The Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass Project construction began in January 2020 and was completed in November 2021. This project was one of the ten 2014 Council Infrastructure Plan projects. The project improves connectivity to the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, East and West Bayshore Road businesses, and the regional San Francisco Bay Trail network. The project construction was significantly impacted by the global supply and material shortages, procurement delays, and personnel and trucking shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, there were unforeseen underground utilities conflicts and design changes to the railing system to address constructability issues. Such issues resulted in about four months of delay in construction completion, additional change orders, and increased construction management services cost. Although the construction cost is slightly higher than originally anticipated, the overall design and construction cost is within the original $20.4 million budget established for the project at the time of contract award (Staff Report ID# 10646). Background The Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Overpass Project (PE-11011), a new year-round, grade- separated, shared bicycle and pedestrian crossing over Highway 101 was completed in November 2021. The project consists of prefabricated steel trusses over Highway 101 and East and West Bayshore Roads, concrete approach structures, Adobe Creek Reach Trail, landscaping, lighting, amenities, and signage. The project had several environmental, construction, and jurisdictional requirements as it falls within multiple jurisdictions including the City, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Santa Clara Valley Water District, a private property located at 3600 West Bayshore Road, and the Baylands Nature Preserve. On May 23, 2016, Council approved a contract with Biggs Cardosa Associates, Inc. to provide design and engineering services for the bridge (Staff Report ID# 6578). The design contract was amended for final design and right-of-way services in December 2017 (Amendment No. 1, Staff Report ID# 8659), bidding and construction support services in June 2019 (Amendment No. 2, Staff Report ID# 10339), and a contract term extension in May 2021 to continue construction support services (Amendment No. 3: Staff Report ID# 11798). Project design was completed in early 2019. Caltrans approved the right-of-way certification and encroachment permit in May/June 2019 and granted the Authorization to Proceed (E-76) with construction in August 2019. An invitation for bids was issued on August 14, 2019. On November 18, 2019, Council approved a construction contract with Granite Construction Company and a construction management services contract with Zoon Engineering, Inc. (Staff Report ID# 10646). After contract execution, a Notice to Proceed was issued to the contractor in January 2020 with an anticipated construction completion in July 2021. Discussion City of Palo Alto Page 3 Construction and Construction Management Contracts The project construction began in January 2020 with submittals, shop drawings and request for information reviews, stakeholder coordination, site reconnaissance, and vegetation removal. The field construction operation was suspended soon after due to the Covid-19 shutdown in April 2020 per the Santa Clara County Health Orders and construction work resumed in late May/early June 2020. The delayed start of construction made it very challenging to complete the new 140-foot-long bridge over Adobe Creek between June 15 and October 15 (as environmental restrictions require). Prior to beginning any work on the bridge footings, the utilities along West Bayshore Road were to be relocated into a new joint trench. To mitigate potential delays, the construction activities were re-sequenced with simultaneous utilities/Adobe Creek Bridge work on the west side and pile drilling on the east side by working longer shifts and on Saturdays until the Adobe Creek Bridge was installed on October 7, 2020. Although the project team implemented mitigation measures to minimize the schedule and budget impacts during construction, the project was significantly impacted by the global material supply chain disruption (e.g., fabrication shops work suspension, personnel shortages, procurement delays, and trucking shortages) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The bridge architectural railing fabrication, galvanization, and staining process was hindered the most by these impacts. Additionally, there were numerous unanticipated underground utilities conflicts and some design changes to the architectural railing which used approximately 80% of the contingency funds for change orders. Some of the underground utilities conflicts included an abandoned PG&E gas line located at 3600 West Bayshore Road (Google parking lot) approximately 14 feet below grade obstructing drilling of three bridge piles, a need for a robust shoring system to drill piles in close vicinity of the PG&E high pressure gas line on the east side, and utilities conflicts with relocation of electric and fiber utilities along West Bayshore Road. The architectural railing with integrated lighting is a unique design that required many changes to address fabrication, constructability, and operational issues. These issues resulted in about four months delay in the project completion and budget overruns on the construction and construction management contracts. Although there were delays in the delivery of the three steel trusses, additional cost incurred because of the delays were at the contractor’s expense and did not contribute to the construction contract overruns. With construction complete, the total change order amount for the Granite Construction Company contract (C20174550) is $1,569,794, or 11% of the base contract value of $13,844,920—i.e., $185,302 above the 10% contingency budget ($1,384,492 contingency) of the construction contract. In addition to the recommended increase of $185,302 to the authorized contingency for the construction contract with Granite Construction Company (C20174550), the project delays required an additional $40,000 in the construction management services by Zoon Engineering, Inc. The design contract with Biggs Cardosa Associates (C16162262) has adequate funds to complete the construction support services including as-built drawings preparation. However, the contracts with Biggs Cardosa Associates (C16162262) and Zoon Engineering, Inc. (C20175214) both ended on December 31, 2021. Therefore, a new design contract with Biggs Cardosa Associates in the amount of $20,000 and a City of Palo Alto Page 4 new construction management services contract with Zoon Engineering, Inc. in the amount of $40,000, effective January 1, 2022 are in process to continue and complete construction support services. Staff is not seeking Council approval of these new contracts as they are within the City Manager’s approval authority. The total project design and construction costs presented in this report account for these new contracts. A majority of the additional costs are recommended to be offset by available project budget and the following: 1) Utility Funding for Improvements: The project included betterments to the utilities including spare electrical and fiber conduits. Additional work was performed to address conflicts with utilities betterment (expansion couplers, pull boxes, risers, routing changes, etc.) at an additional cost of $64,545 which is recommended to be reimbursed by the Utilities Electric and Fiber Optics Funds. Lower than budgeted expenses offset these actions in the Electric Customer Connection (CIP EL-89028) and Fiber Optics Network–System Improvements (CIP FO-10001) projects. 2) Design Expense Savings: The overall design costs for the project were $80,000 below expected levels leaving some capacity for the cost of project delay. With above budget transfers, the additional project cost is $80,757. Despite this increase the total design and construction cost of the project of $20.39 million remains within the $20.4 million budget established for the project in Fiscal Year 2022 (excluding the utilities betterment costs). Resource Impact Based on the recommendations in this report, the total required additional appropriation to the project is estimated to be $65,545, to be funded by transfers from the Utilities Electric and Fiber Optics Funds to reimburse the Capital Improvement Fund for utilities related work that was done as part of the construction of PE-11011. The total design and construction costs are within the $20.4 million budget established for the project for Fiscal Year 2022, therefore no change in the project budget beyond the cost associated with the investment in utility infrastructure is needed. Any technical accounting clean-up that may be necessary will occur during the Fiscal Year 2022 year-end process. Policy Implications The project is consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan goals, policies, and programs. Stakeholder Engagement Stakeholder engagement is not required for approval of the additional contingency and budget appropriation. Timeline City of Palo Alto Page 5 The project construction was completed in November 2021. Upon Council approval of the additional contingency and budget appropriation, staff will complete project closeout. Environmental Review No environmental review is necessary for approval of the additional contingency and budget appropriation.