Drop In Session August 24, 2015:
Agenda Item: #
Board Summary Report
Date:
August 18, 2015
To:
Board of County Commissioners
From:
Dick Hawes, Department Director, Facilities and Fleet Management
Subject:
Select Source Procurement Waiver – District Attorney’s Office Improvements
Request and Recommendation
Facilities and Fleet Management (FFM) requests a select source procurement waiver to complete
office improvements at the District Attorney’s facility. It is recommended that the Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC) approve this select source procurement request to award a contract to GH
Phipps Construction Company in the amount of $119,139.00 to complete these office improvements
for the reasons outlined in the following sections.
Background
Earlier this year the BOCC approved a $110,000.00 Capital Improvements fund allocation to
complete office improvements at the District Attorney’s building. This allocation was increased to
$145,000.00 through a budget transfer that was approved by the Board as part of the second
quarter budget review due to an unanticipated increase in mechanical equipment costs.
Discussion
The initial cost estimate for the office improvements was $92,000.00. Because of the estimated
construction cost, FFM project management staff solicited prices from the two on-call vendors that
are under contract with the county to perform construction related work that is less than One
Hundred Thousand Dollars $100,000.00. While the contractors were in the process of preparing
their bids the project design engineer recommended changes to the mechanical equipment that
would serve the office modifications. These changes increased the cost of the project and the final
bids received exceeded the $100,000.00 limit.
GH Phipps submitted a low bid of $119,139.00. The other on-call vendor, White Construction Group,
submitted a bid of $188,543.00.
Because of the significant difference in price FFM reviewed the proposal submitted by GH Phipps to
ensure that their bid included the entire scope of work designed for the office improvements. After
reviewing the bid and discussing it with representatives of GH Phipps, FFM staff is confident that the
$119,139.00 pricing is sufficient to complete the project.
The current construction market in the Denver area is very active and prices can vary significantly
based on local contractor workloads. It is my opinion that we received a favorable bid from GH
Phipps because of their current workload and the higher price received by White Construction Group
is a reflection of a higher volume of work they have under contract with other clients.
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Drop In Session August 24, 2015:
Agenda Item: #
Because of the favorable price received from GH Phipps I am recommending that the Board
approves a waiver of procurement requirements to award a select source contract to them even
though the final bid price exceeds $100,000.00. Given the volatility of the current construction
market we will likely receive a higher price at a later date if we re-solicit pricing for this project.
Alternatives
An alternative to this proposal is to proceed with a new solicitation for this work since the low bid
exceeds the $100,000.00 limit for the two on-call vendors.
Fiscal Impact
There is no current fiscal impact since the low bid is within the funds allocated for the District
Attorney’s Office Improvements project. However, there is the potential for higher pricing if the
project is delayed for a new solicitation.
Reviewed by
Dick Hawes, Director, Facilities and Fleet Management; Janet Kennedy, Director of Finance; John
Christofferson, Deputy County Attorney; Keith Ashby, Purchasing Manager.
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