Industrial Park infrastructure comes in 26 percent under bid estimates
Members of the Rogers City Council approved a resolution Monday evening awarding the Industrial Park infrastructure project to the low bidder, Santa Fe Corporation of Howell. The bid of $956,728 was 26 percent below engineer estimates of $1.26 million. The highest bid, of the 10 companies that submitted prices for the extension of Airport Road south of the Presque Isle County airport in Rogers City, was more than $2 million.
The new section of Airport Road, which would extend from US-23 to the east, is to lead to future Industrial Park lots in one of the city?s Renaissance Zones on what is now airport property. As part of the project, the lots are to be connected to city sewer and water lines. The award of the project is subject to approval by the Economic Development Administration (EDA).
BIDS FOR the project were opened April 30. ?We were very pleased there were 10 bidders on this project,? said Larry Fox of Capital Consultants (CC). ?There was a lot of interest in it. Partly, because of that interest, we had some very good bid prices.? The second low bid was from Bacco Construction of Iron Mountain, which will be working on the airport runway project this summer. The third low bidder was Cordes Excavating, the firm currently working on US-23.
The remaining bids ranged from $1,096,964 to $2,044,126. Fox said the bids were reflective of the value of the work, under the current bidding climate. The low bidder was approximately nine percent below the second low bid. The majority of price difference between the low bidder, and the second and third bidder, was the cost of rock excavation. ?We questioned Sante Fe on the rock excavation price and their bid price overall and they expressed confidence in their prices,? Fox said.
SANTE FE?S price for rock excavation — there is 3,400 cubic yards of rock to be removed — was $8 a cubic yard. Other bids ranged in price of $20 to $50 a cubic yard. In awarding the bid, the city waived a bid ?irregularity? of an incomplete bidder information page received from Sante Fe Corporation. The contractor subsequently completed the form and submitted it to CC by fax later. Although the items did not have an impact on the bid price, it is an item that needed to be acknowledged. ?It?s something you need to be aware of,? said Fox of the irregularity. ?If you award this contract to Sante Fe, you need to waive that.
?It?s always possible that the second bidder could claim against the bidding process, but it?s just the opposite if you don?t award it to the low bidder. He can also claim.?
FOX TOLD council members that CC has some experience working with Sante Fe. About 20 years ago, the firms worked on a similar project on Mackinac Island, which involved a lot of rock excavating. ?We feel that they are qualified and capable of completing the work on this project,? said Fox. ?We are very comfortable with their named subcontractor for earthwork and paving, H & D Incorporated.? Fox said CC had no reason to recommend against awarding the project to Sante Fe.
The award is contingent upon approval by EDA, and the city has an issue to clear up involving some non-participating items listed by the EDA, in the amount of $86,747. ?What that means is EDA, at this point in time, is not going to participate in that $86,000,? said former city mnager Robert Fairbanks.
A MODIFICATION in the design of the project was not part of the original application. The water and sewer lines were supposed to be installed along US-23, but because of an unusual amount of rock, the connections will be made at Brege Drive to the Industrial Park and will involve a loop. ?
?What we are going to point out to the EDA is that we do have a complaint in the existing industrial park of stale water because there is not a loop,? said Fairbanks. ?That is a 1974 EDA project.?
The letter was to be mailed Tuesday. The project could be completed by years end with seeding to occur in May 2004.