Staff recommends that the City Council approve a Resolution authorizing the use of an alternative project delivery method for construction, remodel, and repair of the New City Hall Facility located at 316 N 26th Street (Stillwater Building). An alternative project delivery method is authorized by State Law 18-2-502, MCA.

Construction, remodel, and repair work at the New City Hall Facility aligns with the Council Priority to solve the City's space needs and co-locate departments, with an emphasis on Courts, Legal, and Police departments. The significant facility deficiencies of these departments have been identified through both the Facilities Master Plan and the CPSM Report. City Administration desires the discretion to use an alternative project delivery method due to the complexity and phased nature of this project, which makes traditional bidding difficult. Additionally, by involving a contractor early in the process, we can arrive at more accurate estimates, establish a more comprehensive budget, and identify areas for cost-savings during the design process. The proposed alternative project delivery contract is a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) method. Under a CMAR contract, the City will select a Construction Manager (CM) through the RFP process, who will then serve as a consultant to the City and design team during the pre-design and design phases and serve as the General Contractor (GC) during the construction phase. A Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) will be negotiated with the CM after the construction plans are completed. This ensures that the CM is delivering the project based on the negotiated GMP. The CM is involved with estimating the cost of constructing the project based on the goals of the City and the overall scope of the project. In balancing the costs, schedule, quality, and scope of the project, decisions can be made to modify the design concept instead of having to spend a considerable amount of time, effort, and money re-designing and/or modifying completed construction documents.

The size, complexity, cost, and overlapping design and construction schedules for the building systems upgrades and phased build-out of the building makes this type of alternative project delivery contract more advantageous than the Design/Bid/Build approach traditionally used by staff to complete construction projects. The New City Hall Facility is currently in Phase 1 design with JLG and Collaborative Design Architects, and we expect to have the Master Planning Schedule and Conceptual Design completed in April 2022. Both firms have substantial and applicable experience with the CMAR alternative project delivery method. The contractor will use the conceptual designs from phase 1 to begin to build an accurate budget for the project before moving into the construction document phase of design.

 

City Council may:

• Approve the Resolution to use an alternative project delivery method; or,
• Disapprove the Resolution for the use of alternative project delivery method. If the Resolution is not approved, design and construction of the New City Hall Facility would proceed under the typical design-bid-build approach, and potentially significant cost and time advantages of the CMAR delivery method would not be realized.

The financial impact cannot be quantified for this Council action. The goal of using alternative project delivery will be to assess value during the process and construct the most effective project possible. During the construction of an alternative delivery project, the City will have opportunities for competitive bidding for materials and subcontractors through the general contractor. If the Resolution is approved, the Construction Manager will be selected through the RFP process. A selection committee will score the proposals and select the highest scoring proposal based on their qualifications and ability to provide the requested service. Staff will negotiate a fee and contract with the selected CM, and the Council will have the opportunity to review and approve or not approve the agreement at a future business meeting.