Interoffice Memorandum
DATE: October 21, 2024
TO: Mayor Jerry L. Demings and County Commissioners
FROM: Carrie Mathes, CFCM, NIGP-CPP, CPPO, C.P.M., Manager II, Procurement Division
CONTACT: Raymond Williams, Manager, Public Works Engineering Division
PHONE: 407-836-7909
SUBJECT: Award of Invitation for Bids Y24-785-CR, Bates Road Bridge Replacement and Roadway Approaches
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approval to award Invitation for Bids Y24-785-CR, Bates Road Bridge Replacement and Roadway Approaches to the sole responsive and responsible bidder, Cathcart Construction Company - Florida, LLC, in the total contract award amount of $7,279,702. ([Public Works Department Engineering Division] Procurement Division)
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PROCUREMENT:
This contract will procure services to replace the existing Bates Road bridge and pedestrian bridge extension with a new bridge to current standards and raising the bridge above the floodplain elevation for the Crane Strand canal. Reconstruction of Bates Road is also necessary to raise the profile of the bridge; additional scope items include sheet pile retaining walls, gravity walls, new storm sewer, curb, sidewalk, milling and resurfacing, and canal erosion protection. This project is located east of Goldenrod Road and west of Chickasaw Trail. This project is located in District 4.
FUNDING:
Funding is available in account numbers 1003-072-2852-6311, 4420-038-1482-0054-6345, and 4420-038-1504-0069-6345.
APPROVALS:
The Public Works Department and Business Development Division concur with this recommendation.
REMARKS:
One bid was received in response to this Invitation for Bids (IFB) and evaluated for responsiveness, responsibility, and price reasonableness. Price reasonableness was established by comparison to the County Engineer’s estimated unit costs. Where differences were substantial, the item was evaluated to determine overall impact to the total project cost. In some cases, the unit price or quantity was small enough to not have significant impact. For other items the overall cost impact was greater.
Mobilization and General Conditions/Lump Sum items were reviewed for potential front loading. The bidder’s mobilization is 8%, under the typical 10% limit. The cost of the General Conditions/Lump Sum items is 19% compared to 16% for the County’s estimate. Both of these percentages are low compared to typical bids. Another recent bridge bid, Buck Road, had five bidders and the estimate reflected an average 25% for these costs.
Costs were also grouped by work type (i.e., roadway, drainage, bridge) to determine if the cost loading by work type was similar to the estimate. The largest differential appears in the bridge work, however none of the differentials appeared excessive or unbalanced.
The possibility of rebidding was considered, but due to the limited bid interest it is possible that no bids, or a higher bid from the same contractor, could be the result. Based on the critical safety concerns related to the bridge deterioration, internal review and the cost analysis by the Engineer of Record (EOR), the cost was determined to be reasonable considering the need and the options available.
The EOR for Orange County Utilities also found the bid reasonable for their scope of work. Cathcart Construction Company - Florida, LLC has a satisfactory record of performance for this type of work and has been determined to be responsible. Therefore, award is recommended to Cathcart Construction Company - Florida, LLC.
To ensure an open and competitive solicitation process, the IFB was posted to the County’s e-procurement platform. A query of potential bidders that declined to compete on this project resulted in the following:
A2B Engineering, LLC: We are a small, Tampa, FL based engineering firm specializing in Specialty Engineering. We do not bid as prime contractor on projects, only Specialty Engineer.
Carr and Collier Inc.: Due to our busy bid schedule, we were unable to commit any resources to providing a bid estimate.
Prime Construction Group, Inc.: We were unable to provide a bid for this project due to current backlog.
Proshot Concrete, Inc.: Project is not within our scope of services.
The bid tabulation is as follows:
Bidder Total Bid
Cathcart Construction Company - Florida, LLC $7,279,702