Staff recommends the City Council approve and award the MET Transit Bus Wash Equipment Replacement Project to Cucancic Construction Inc. for $578,490.

On October 22, 2024, City of Billings Administration approved Amendment 20 with the Aviation and Transit Department's contracted A&E firm (Morrison-Maierle) for the design, engineering, and project management of a bus wash equipment replacement project for the drive-thru bus wash located at MET's primary facility, the METroplex, at 1705 Monad Rd. This project consists of the replacement of existing bus wash equipment that is no longer in an operable state. The current bus wash system was installed in 2008 and the brush system regularly caused damage to the MET Transit heavy-duty bus fleet as it was no longer configured correctly to match new vehicle designs. Further, the current wash equipment configuration is not able to be used for the fully electric buses as the bus height exceeds the current maximum vehicle size able to be accommodated by the setup. Finally, the existing equipment was not usable in temperatures below freezing due to the configuration of both the equipment, building heaters, and the overhead door systems. This project will update equipment to a fully touchless system to mitigate any future potential damage from moving brushes while installing equipment to a height that accommodates the entire bus fleet; the accompanying overhead door system and heater systems will also be updated to include features allowing use of the wash in cold weather. Through this project, MET Transit will extend the useful life of its 43+ year old primary facilities by improving functionality and refurbishing existing building space.

This project was advertised in the Yellowstone County News on July 11, 2025, July 18, 2025 and July 25, 2025. On August 05, 2025, the following bids were received:

CONTRACTOR BID
Cucancic Construction   $563,490
Langlas,   $595,000

See "Fiscal Effects" for explanation of the difference in amount of bid received and recommended contract award.

City Council may:

• Approve the award of the MET Transit Bus Wash Equipment Replacment Project to Cucancic Construction Inc. for $578,490; or,
• Not Approve the award, reject all bids, and delay the project.

The MET Bus Wash Equipment Replacement project will be executed using a combination of Federal and local funding. MET has adequate capital reserves to execute this project and will be utilizing Section 5339(A) formula federal funds; this project was budgeted and approved in the FY25 Capital Improvement Plan and is currently programmed in the adopted Transportation Improvement Plan. For the final contract, the A&E recommended Owner (City) contingency be increased from the included bid amount of $10,000 to $25,000; this allows for approximately 4.3% of total project available for contingency purposes. With this increase, total recommended award to Cucancic Construction Inc is $578,490. Funding details as follows:

Total (100%)      Federal (80%)        Local(20%)
$578,490           $462,792                $115,698