Title
Staff Report for Resolution to Reject Bids for Asphalt Rubber Street Sealing 2011-12, Project No. 11-144-38-332
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council approve a resolution rejecting all bids on the subject project.
BACKGROUND
Staff conducted an annual pavement condition survey using the City’s Pavement Management System to establish the condition of the City’s streets. Based on the last survey, various City streets were recommended for one of three maintenance treatments: reconstruction; overlay; or sealing. This project will conduct sealing treatments. Sealing is the recommended treatment for streets in fairly good condition to rejuvenate and prolong the life of the pavement. The sealing treatment to be used in this project is asphalt rubber cape seal. A project for streets requiring only slurry and scrub seal work was bid separately as the Annual Street Sealing 2011-12 Project.
Analysis
The bid opening for the subject project was held on June 29, 2012. A total of two bids were received, and the lowest bidder was 51% above the engineer’s estimate for the base bid. This was unexpected, since the base bid quantities of asphalt rubber chip sealing, slurry sealing, and microsurfacing to be applied were comparable to those from the Annual Street Sealing 2010-11 project. Also, the higher bid prices contradict what was predicted by the Caltrans Crude Oil Price Index, which had dropped 11% since May 2011 when bids were opened for the last project.
City staff contacted contractors and subcontractors who submitted bids for the subject project. Based on these discussions, staff concluded that the higher prices were likely due to the bid opening for the subject project being held later in the year than the one for the previous street sealing project. Contractors tend to give lower bids for projects at the beginning of the construction season since their schedules are not yet full. Therefore, staff proposes t...
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