01. Mary Ave bridge bids
CITY OF
CUPEIUINO
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
Summary
AGENDA ITEM
AGENDA DATE Mav 10.2007
SUBJECT AND ISSUE
Rejection of all bids received on May 3, 2007 for the Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge
Phase II Project and authorization for the Director of Public Works to repackage the bid
documents and re-advertise the project for competitive bids.
BACKGROUND
On December 5, 2006 the Council accepted a progress report on the Mary Avenue
Bicycle Footbridge Project. The project is a single span cable stayed bridge over Interstate
Route 280 connecting an established bicycle trail system on Mary Avenue in Cupertino on
the south side of 1-280 to Mary Avenue in Sunnyvale on the north. The design concept,
developed by city staff and the design consultant team of Biggs-Cardosa Associates and
HNTB, Inc had been approved by the Council on February 1, 2005.
REPORT ON CONSTRUCTION BIDS
The project was advertised for competitive biding on March 28, 2007 and bids were
received and opened on May 3,2007 with the following results:
Bidder
Bid Amount
% Difference
R & L Brosamer, Inc.
$ 12,939,455.00
206%
RGW Construction, Inc.
$ 12,446,732.00
198 %
Engineer's Estimate
$ 6,292,000.00
While variances from the engineers estimate within a range of 10% one way or the other
are to be expected, these bids are so far beyond the engineer's estimate, it is almost
impossible to comprehend. The City's estimate was developed in consultation with
Architects, Structural Engineers, Material Suppliers, Manufacturers, Contractors and
Construction Managers and Caltrans. Unless these two contractors have some special
insight about the construction of this bridge unknown to all others, unique though it may
be, it is highly unlikely that the price would be double the estimate that was carefully and
collectively developed by these many segments of the construction industry.
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Printed on Recycled Paper
An examination of the unit prices of the bids received shows that many of them are so far
out of the realm of a reasonable estimate, that it simply isn't likely that the true cost of the
bridge is anything close to $12-13 Million. As one example, the cost of high strength
concrete (used in the bridge towers) is typically about $500 a cubic meter, because of the
unusual type of formwork required for the bridge towers our estimate was $1000 per
cubic meter. However, the low bidder specified the unit price of $16,500 per cubic meter
which, with the quantities required, increases the cost from our estimate by over
$2,000,000 just on this one item.
As a point of interest, there were only two bidders out of a field of fifteen, all of whom
picked up bid documents and of those fifteen, six bidders expressed a serious interest in
bidding the job. That fact along with the fact the bids were so unbelievably high suggests
that bidding the project at this time may have limited the field because they were all too
busy or other factors that caused them to not bid at this time. It is also possible that the
tight duration time of construction specified in the bid package may have affected their
willingness to bid as well. Beyond that, because the bids are so far afield, any further
speculation would be futile.
To that end, with the Council's approval, staff will re-advertise that project following a
review of the bid documents, including interviews with the two bidders, with our
consultants to make any changes that might make the project attractive to more bidders.
Also, indications are that a re-bid of the project at this time may bring other contractors
who were busy bidding other bigger jobs back into our project.
FISCAL IMPACT
There may be minor costs of re-advertising the project but the cost is not expected to
exceed $5,000 from the adopted project budget.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Rejection of all bids received on May 3, 2007 for the Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge
Phase II Project and authorization for the Director of Public Works to repackage the bid
documents and re-advertise the project for competitive bids.
Submitted by:
Approved for submission:
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Director of Public Works
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David W. Knapp
City Manager
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