Title
Construction Contract for Eastside Force Main Project; Phase 1 (B)
Explanation
GRU provides wastewater service to approximately 200,000 people. The GRU wastewater collection system includes over 1,100 miles of piping, 15,500 manholes, 170 lift stations, and 64,000 customer connections. The system receives and treats over 6 billion gallons of wastewater per year and beneficially returns clean water back to the environment. GRU uses best utility practices in operating and maintaining its system.
The Eastside Force Main serves a portion of the east side of Gainesville. Most of its service area is generally bound by the Gainesville Regional Airport, NE Waldo Road, and SE Hawthorne Road. The Eastside Force Main is approximately 5.75 miles in length, traversing from NE 39 Avenue south under East University Avenue, then travels east under SE Hawthorne road, and discharges into the Main Street Water Reclamation Facility. It was installed during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Upgrading this force main will address aging infrastructure, lower maintenance costs, increase capacity for future growth, and reduce the risk of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs).
This is a proactive project to replace the force main prior to its end of life as well as provide additional capacity for future growth to its service area. Phase 1 of the project replaces approximately 9,000 linear feet (1.7 miles) of the existing force main from NE 39 Avenue to just north of the Lake Forest Creek crossing, just south of Lofton High School. Phase 1 also includes the replacement of approximately 3,000 linear feet (0.6 miles) of the force main from LS 83, which serves the Tacachale State Facility, to its connection to the Eastside Force Main.
GRU construction crews will install approximately 1,000 linear feet of the force main and provide connection points to the existing force mains. The remainder of the force main will be installed by the contractor via horizontal direction drilling (HDD). HDD is proposed for the remainder of the project to minimize the environmental impacts to the area.
An Invitation to Bid for this work was issued by Utilities Procurement to the known companies that perform this type of work and the bid was also posted on DemandStar. Six bids and one no-bid were received. Companies were required to meet minimum qualification criteria, including licensure and experience, and were then evaluated based on pricing. T B Landmark Construction, Inc. submitted the lowest responsive bid and is being recommended for award of this contract, allowing the project to be completed under budget based on GRU’s Capital Improvements budget for FY2020. A tabulation is attached for reference.
Fiscal Note
The amount of the best, responsive bid is $1,673,096.00. Funding for this project is included in GRU’s Capital Improvements budget for FY2020.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) Authorize the General Manager, or his designee, to execute a contract with T B Landmark Construction, Inc. for the Eastside Force Main Project; Phase 1, subject to the approval of the City Attorney as to form and legality; and 2) approve the issuance of purchase orders to T B Landmark Construction, Inc. in the amount of $1,673,096.00.