2010080205 - Desk Item 09-10C-FY 2009/10 Street repair and resurfacingtoW" of MEETING DATE: 08/02/10
'• ITEM NO: 5
>;~"' DESK ITEM
- ~,
tos ~"Ajos
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
DATE: AUGUST 2, 2010
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: GREG CARSON, TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT: PPW JOB NO. 09-lOC - FY 2009/10 STREET REPAIR AND RESURFACING
PROJECT 811-9901
A. AUTHORIZE THE TOWN MANAGER TO EXECUTE A
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT WITH INTERMOUNTAIN IN AN
AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,725,121.
B. AUTHORIZE STAFF TO EXECUTE FUTURE CHANGE ORDERS TO
THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT AS NECESSARY IN AN
AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $200,000.
Attached is an e-mail from Graham Contractors Inc. regarding the bidding process for the FY
2009/10 Street Repair and Resurfacing project. This resurfacing involves the application of a
Rubber Chip Seal and a final surface of a Slurry Seal. This project was designed using technical
specifications that are developed and approved by Caltrans for use by the State, Counties, and
municipalities. This resurfacing application has been used by the Town in past years with very
good results and has been economical compared to an application of the typical Asphalt Overlay.
Graham Contractors, whose original bid was over the project budget by $273,000, then contacted
the Town and proposed the use of products other than the specified Caltrans-approved Asphalt
Rubber. Graham Contractors claimed the material would be as good as the material in the
project specifications and would also be a cost savings to the Town. Over the years, a number of
companies haue proposed resurfacing products they claim are substitutes for Caltrans-approved
Asphalt Rubber.. However, as part of the project design, staff verified with Caltrans that none of
these products are approved or are equal in quality or specification to the Asphalt Rubber.
This project was re-advertised and re-bid based on Town guidelines according to the formal bid
process. "The notice for advertising was published in the legal section of Los Gatos Weekly
newspaper by the Town Clerk's office and all formal procedures were followed without
exception.
PREPARED BY: TODD CAPURSO
Director of Parks and Public
Reviewed by: ~'`~ ~ Assistant Town Manager ~ ~'T{iwn Attorney
Clerk Administrator ~ Finance Community Development
N:\PPW\MANAGEMEN"ACOUNCIL\COUNCIf. REPORTS\2010 Reports\Augnst 2\09-10Cshcetresm~face.capeseaLDESK ITEM.doc
PAGE2
AUGUST 2, 2010
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: PPW JOB NO. 09-1 OC - FY 2009/10 STREET REPAIR AND RESURFACING
PROJECT 411-811-9901
On a regular basis, the Town receives inquiries from contractors about projects that may be up
for bid. The Town routinely informs contractors that the Town does not keep a list of conhactors
to contact each time a project is advertised. Staff informed Graham Contactors Inc. and
International Surfacing Systems Inc., who also bid on June 16th, that both bids were going to be
rejected and the project would be advertised again according to the Town's commonly-practiced
process.
Attachments:
1. Electronic communication August 2, 2010 from Graham Contractors Inc. addressed to Town
Council
...___,.~~._....,-.._e .. ....._.. _.__... _ _.-___. __.,..._ ..~,, _-.~. „_..__._.~w -_._ .._,Fr.._....__. ATTACHMENT 1 _. ..
From: Che Corlett
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 5:53:56 PM
To: Council; Diane McNutt; Joe Pirzynski; Steve Rice; BSpector; Mike Wasserman
Subject: Consent Iem #5 /Annual Street Resurfacing
Dear Council Members -
Regarding the 09!10 Annual Street Resurfacing project that recently bid in the Town of Los Gatos, and is to be awarded
tonight by consent calendar (Consent Item #5):
Graham Contractors was the low bidder on the first cape seal project that bid earlier this year (6/16/10). We were told that
this project was not awarded because it was over budget.
Below is the email chain in which I made offers to provide cost-saving information to the Town, and also made specific
requests to receive notification of the re-bid of this project. For reasons not yet determined, the Town was not willing to
hear about any cost-saving equal products (per PCC 3400), and also failed to provide us with notification that this project
was to be re-bid. The day before the re-bid, we became aware of the project, but were informed that we could not bid the
project because of a "mandatory' pre-bid conference.
We have been told by Town staff that the project was only advertised in the Los Gatos Weekly, and was not placed in the
general engineering publications (Daily Builder, Green Sheet, Santa Clara Builder's Exchange, etc). But interestingly,
International Surfacing Systems of Modesto (Stanislaus County) and Manhole Adjusters of Pico Rivera (Los Angeles
County) were specifically informed of this project.
Intermountain Slurry Seal of Sacramento (Sacramento County) had to make virtually daily requests to the Town regarding
information on the project before any information would be provided to them. The two other plan holders, Duran &
Venables and JJ Albanese, were personally invited to bid the project because they were performing other work for the
Town; they did not see any advertisements in the Los Gatos Weekly or in any other publication. (It is well known that
neither Duran &Venables or JJ Albanese perform chip seal or slurry seal work. -Duran &Venables listed Intermountain
for these items).
I find all of this very interesting given that Graham.Contractors is the only chip and slurry seal contractor based in Santa
Clara County, vve have an outstanding reputation, 34 years experience, we were low bidder on the first project, and we
soecifically made a request to be informed of this bid.
The new low bidder, Intermountain Slurry Seal, will be using an "equal" product on this project, and will undoubtedly make
every effort to provide the Town with an excellent result. Indeed, all of the bidders that provided a price are reputable
contractors with good performance records, as are the subcontractors.
However, there is a fundamental lack of fairness in regards to the manner in which Graham Contractors and others were
prevented from providing a bid on this project. We have made the decision not to protest the award of this bid, but we felt
that you should be made aware of the manner in which your projects are being put out to bid.
Regards,
Che Corlett
Graham Contractors, Inc.
ph (408) 293-9516
fx (408) 293-3633
che(a~grahamcontractors.com