Title
Proposal Award - Design/Build of Traffic Signal System Reconstruction at Three Intersections (B)
This is a request for the City Commission to authorize the bid award in the amount of $800,972 to James D. Hinson Electrical Contracting Company for the Design/Build of traffic signal system reconstruction at three intersections in the City of Gainesville; NW 8th Ave at 18th Terrace, NW 6th Street at 5th Avenue, and SW 6th Street at 4th Avenue.
Explanation
On October 12, 2009, Public Works issued, through the City's Purchasing Department, a Request for Proposals (RFP) in the matter of a Design-Build project consisting of the reconstruction of three (3) traffic signals within the City of Gainesville. In keeping with established purchasing practices, the City received and reviewed submissions from six (6) proposers. Utilizing established, published criteria, the submissions were evaluated by a team consisting of three (3) Professional Engineers from Public Works. Those evaluations were scored for the purpose of short-listing three proposers. The short-listed proposers were: American Lighting and Signalization (ALS); Florida Industrial Electric (FIE); and, James D. Hinson Electrical Contracting Company (Hinson). The short-listed firms participated individually in oral presentations and interviews. Immediately following those interviews, all three (3) proposals were evaluated with all three evaluation scores locked in. Following the establishment of evaluation scores, the proposal prices were opened by Purchasing and the final ranking determined. A recommendation for award was made in favor of James D. Hinson, Inc. as the highest ranking proposer. Subsequently, the notice of intent to award was sent to all three (3) proposers.
On December 22, 2009, the City was officially notified by representatives of ALS that they wished to lodge a protest of that proposal award. Section 41-582 of the Purchasing Procedures requires that a timely protest "include all relevant information which the alleged aggrieved party feels is pertinent." The formal, written protest was based solely on the belief that the terms of the RFP provided that no single engineering firm could participate on two (2) proposals. The bid protest was received by the City and reviewed by the City Attorney's Office which opined that the protest was without merit. In accordance with the award protest procedure, a meeting with the director of Public Works was scheduled to hear ALS' award protest.
As provided for in the Financial Services Procedures Manual, 41-000 Purchasing, Section 41-580, on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 2:00 PM, ALS presented its grounds for protesting the recommended award of the Design-Build for the reconstruction of three traffic signals to Hinson.
At this presentation, ALS provided claims in addition to those addressed in its formal written protest submitted on December 22, 2009. The additional issues provided by ALS when presenting its protest were that Hinson did not: 1) provide the required time in its schedule for reviews by the City; and 2) allow for the shop drawing approval prior to starting the steel mast arm assembly fabrication. The length of the schedule in calendar days, from notice to proceed to project completion, is a significant component in the ranking formula and as such that issue was investigated by Pubic Works engineering staff. Staff determined that a total of 19 calendar days needed to be added to the Hinson schedule to meet RFP requirements for use in the ranking calculations. This was done and Hinson's remained the highest ranking of the short listed three (3) proposals.
On January 20, 2010, the City Manager issued a letter to ALS with supporting documentation denying the protest. Subsequently, on January 25, 2010, within the prescribed period, ALS filed an appeal of the City Manager's decision. In this appeal, ALS is presenting additional issues and additional requested remedies which are contrary to procedure (41-581), "The City Commission or designee shall review the decision of the Charter Officer, the record before the Charter Officer, and written or oral argument of the parties involved in the appeal. No new evidence shall be considered and the City Commission may only reverse or modify the decision of the Charter Officer upon a determination that his/her decision was not based on substantial competent evidence or that his/her reasoning or application of the policies, procedures and law was fundamentally flawed."
Fiscal Note
Funding in the amount of $696,498.00 plus a 15% contingency amount for a total of $800,972 is available in the adopted Capital Improvement Plan.
Recommendation
Recommended Motion: The City Commission: 1) award the proposal to James D. Hinson Electrical Contracting Company for the Design/Build for traffic signal system reconstruction for three intersections in the City of Gainesville; NW 8th Ave at 18th Terrace, NW 6th Street at 5th Avenue, and SW 6th Street at 4th Avenue; 2) authorize the City Manager to execute the contract, subject to approval by the City Attorney as to form and legality; and 3) issue a purchase order in an amount not to exceed $800,972.