Rock Creek Siphon Project - Nevada Irrigation District

Nevada Irrigation District
Staff Report
for the Board of Directors’ Meeting of March 25, 2015
TO:
Board of Directors
FROM:
Gary King, Engineering Manager
Adrian Schneider, Senior Associate Engineer
Chip Close, Operations Manager
DATE:
March 18, 2015
SUBJECT: Construction Award Contract for Rock Creek Siphon Project
ENGINEERING
RECOMMENDATION:
Reject the bid from Koch and Koch and Award a construction services contract to
Hansen Bros. Enterprises in the amount of $2,974,580 and authorize the General
Manager to execute the necessary documents.
BACKGROUND:
The Rock Creek Siphon Project is a critical emergency raw water supply pipeline that
will benefit the District and, potentially, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E) and Placer
County Water Agency (PCWA). It is a 36-inch diameter pipeline that will connect the
Combie Ophir II canal to the Rock Creek Reservoir. In November 2014 the District was
awarded $1,656,503 in funds for the project from an overall $5,692,146 grant award
from the Department of Water Resources. The grant provisions stipulate that the
grantee must award the project construction contract by April 2015 in order to maintain
the grant.
The District is currently engaged in conversation with both PG & E and PCWA in an
effort to expand financial participation in the project. Both entities recognize the system
reliability enhancement that this project could provide their systems.
As part of this project, the District has an opportunity to co-locate a portion of a 24-inch
drinking water transmission main between Locksley Lane and Shale Ridge Road
concurrently during the construction of the 36-inch main pipeline. Current Shale Ridge
system design does not promote tank circulation or provide adequate chlorine contact
time. The District will realize a significant cost benefit by installing the 24-inch line within
the same construction time period. Staff has reviewed the need for this project and has
developed a multiple year installation plan as shown on the attached drawing to resolve
the water quality issues at Shale Ridge tanks. This additional pipeline was included in
the California Environmental Quality Act document for the raw water intertie project.
On February 9, 2015 requests for quotes were sent to eight contractors; Pronesti
Excavation, Hansen Bros. Enterprises, Lorang Brothers Construction, C&D Contractors,
Koch & Koch, Inc., S&P Excavating, Syblon & Reed, and Teichert. Three contractors
provided quotes on March 9, 2015: Hansen Bros. Enterprises, Lorang Brothers
Construction and Koch & Koch, Inc. The quotes were as follows:
Contractor
Koch & Koch
Hansen Bros.
Lorang Brothers
Base Project
$1,679,602
$2,462,403
$2,738,023
Additive Project
$421,830
$512,177
$392,080
Total Quote
$2,101,432
$2,974,580
$3,130,103
On March 11, 2015, Koch & Koch requested relief from their quote due to a clerical
error input on one of their quote items. The attached letter describes their reasons for
relief. Engineering staff have determined that the quote by Koch & Koch contained a
mistake; that Koch & Koch gave written notice of the mistake to the District within 5
working days; that the mistake made the quote materially different than was intended;
and that the mistake was made in filling out the quote and was not due to an error in
judgment or in reading the plans or specifications, or to carelessness in inspecting the
site of the work. Bid relief to Koch & Koch is therefore authorized pursuant to Public
Contracts Code section 5101. As part of this Board action, staff supports Koch & Koch’s
request and further requests that the Board reject their quote. The second lowest quote
is from Hansen Bros. Enterprises.
It is the recommendation of the Engineering Department staff to approve and award the
construction contract to Hansen Bros. Enterprises.
BUDGETARY IMPACT:
Rock Creek Siphon Intertie project will require transfer of $2,600,000 in funds from
Working Capital. The Capital fund will be reimbursed from the grant funding in the
amount of $1,656,503. The $1,656,503 grant amount consists of approximately
$100,000 for grant administration which includes CABY support, $1,471,650 for
construction, and the remainder is for easement purchases, design, environmental
documentation, and permitting.
To construct, the first phase of the 24-inch pipeline we will transfer from the Loma Rica
Hydroelectric project in the amount of $400,000 and the remaining $200,000 out of
minor system replacements program leaving $100,000 in project balance and $100,000
the program balance for this year’s expenditures. Currently on the hydroelectric project,
staff is working on the property purchase with the County with a future submittal to PGE
for approval of power line capacity. It is not anticipated that we would order the power
unit until late 2015 or early 2016.
Attachment: Letter from Koch & Koch
Phasing attachment
Budget amendment
ANS/GDK