SALISBURY – With the Wastewater Treatment Plant Drain Pump Station’s latest mishap still on the minds of many, the City Council approved a number of contract change orders this week in hopes to make some improvements at the facility.
There were a list of approvals the City Council were presented with during the awarding of bids portion of the legislative session on Monday evening. Each had to do with the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Drain Pump Station.
First, Assistant Director of Internal Services Catrice Parsons explained that the Procurement Department received a request from Salisbury Public Works (SPW) to process a change order in the amount of $22,000, with JJID Inc. The funds are available in the Construction Services account.
The change order proposes to add a SPW-approved electrical contractor and a SPW-approved system integrator, Shorite. Different vendors were proposed in JJID’s original proposal but were not approved by SPW.
According to Director of Public Works Teresa Gardner, in June of 2012 the City of Salisbury awarded the contract to construct the WWTP Plant Drain Pump Station to JJID for $875,000. By the beginning of October the city informed JJID that two of their subcontractors were not accepted for this contact.
JJID has proposed to use Bilbrough Electric, Inc., as its electrical sub-contractor at an increase in cost $15,000. SPW accepted JJID’s recommendation given that Bilbrough has experience working in wastewater treatment facilities, having completed work at Delmar WWTP and Worton WWTP.
However, Bilbrough proposed to use a system integrator for the project that was not pre-qualified by SPW. SPW than requested that Bilbrough continue to use Shorite, which had been pre-qualified as the system integrator, at an increase in cost of $7,000.
Second, Parsons explained the Procurement Department received a request from SPW to award a contract in the amount of $37,500 to George, Miles, and Buhr (GMB), due to their expertise in services to be provided and Salisbury’s WWTP. The additional funds are available in the Consulting Services account.
The services GMB will provide are general administration and contraction services, administer monthly progress meetings, monitor shop drawing submittals and certifications as well as other services for the WWTP project.
According to Gardner, typically when the city requests proposals for engineering services related to design, construction administration, and service they are included in the scope of work but for the WWTP Plant Drain Pump Station it was not included in the city’s contract with Brown & Caldwell, who was contracted by the city to provide design services for WWTP.
Given the complexity of the project, SPW approached GMB to provide a proposal to provide such services for the Pump Station to supplement the services provided by Brown & Caldwell.
Third, Parsons explained the Procurement Department received a request from SPW to process a Change Order in Brown & Caldwell’s contract in the amount of $45,190. The additional funds are available in the Consulting Services account.
The change order proposes to add construction services to include attendance to meetings, preparation of addenda’s, review submittals, manuals, and other needed services to complete this project.
“Recognizing that the design engineer’s role does not end at the design phase, the City of Salisbury requested that Brown and Caldwell provide a change order to cover these services,” Gardner said.
Finally, Parsons explained the Procurement Department received a request from SPW to process another change order in the amount of $3,762,289 with Brown and Caldwell’s contract. Additional funds are available in the WTP Upgrades account.
The change order proposed to delete a number of tasks and add design and permitting, bidding, contractor pre-qualification services, contract administration, project management and WWTP support, as well as other services.
According to Gardner, the city is ready to move forward with the design of the WWTP improvements since the Amended Consent Order was recently signed and the corrective action plan is approved.
The final change order details the company’s new tasks, as well as deletes unused funds from previously approved tasks that are no longer needed or will be included in the overall design contract.
“These are all moves to have the Wastewater Treatment Plant improved, as long as we get the job done,” Councilwoman Shanie Shields said.
The council voted 3-0, Council President Terry Cohen and Councilwoman Laura Mitchell absent, to approve all four items in the award of bids.