Staff recommends that the City Council approve the contracts for Schedule 1: W.O. 09-12, Inner Belt Loop (Northwest Billings Connector) including Additive Alternate No. 1 to Riverside Contracting in the amount of $11,254,906.20, and Schedule II: W.O 21-38, Skyline Trail (Marathon Loop) to Weave Construction in the amount of $2,851,747.00.  These bid awards are contingent upon the City receiving final Federal Highway approval of the bid award and final funds for the project.

Schedule 1: W.O. 09-12 Inner Belt Loop (Northwest Billings Connector) will construct 5 miles of new road and multi-use trail connecting Alkali Creek Road to Highway 3 at Zimmerman Trail.  Schedule II: W.O. 21-38 Skyline Trail (Marathon Loop) will construct the Skyline Trail and associated parking lots between Zimmerman Trail and the eastern limits of the existing Skyline Trail. Schedule 1 was bid with an additive alternate for erosion control fabric.

The City was awarded a FY20 BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Grant from the US Department of Transportation to complete the Inner Belt Loop (Northwest Billings Connector) and Skyline Trail (Marathon Trail).  At the federal level, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) administers the grant and enters into the grant agreement with the City. The total eligible amount of funds granted to the City are $11,656,765. In addition to the Federal funds, the City and Billings TrailNet are contributing up to $7,085,000 to the project. After numerous steps in the process over this last year, the City is now in position to construct the project.  After right-of-way was acquired by the City, the FHWA authorized the bidding of the project for construction in August 2022.  The bids will be submitted to FHWA for review as part of the federal grant process and FHWA has up to 90 days to review and approve the construction contract.  The City bid award is contingent upon federal approval of the bids and appropriation of final grant funds.

The project was advertised on August 5, August 12, August 19, August 26, September 2, September 9, and September 16, 2022, in the Yellowstone County News and on the City's website.  Bids were opened on September 20, 2022, and four bids were received for Schedule 1 and two bids were received for Schedule II.  Riverside Contracting submitted the lowest responsible bid for Schedule I and Weave Construction submitted the lowest responsible bid for Schedule II.

City Council may:

• Approve the construction contracts for Schedule I: WO 09-12 to Riverside Contracting in the amount of $11,254,906.20 and Schedule II: W.O. 21-38 to Weave Construction in the amount of $2,851,747.00; or,
• Not approve the construction contracts.  If the projects are not constructed, federal matching grant funds will be lost and the road and trail connections will not be made.

The following bids were received:

Schedule I	Base bid + Alternate Amount
Riverside Contracting	$11,254,906.20
Knife River	$13,163,511.80
Wickens Construction	$14,422,672.46
Martin Construction	$14,993,770.07
Schedule II	Bid Amount
Weave Construction	$2,851,747.00
Askin Construction	$3,303,009.00

Schedule 1: The City committed $7,000,000 of previous years' arterial construction fees for the Northwest Billings Connector project toward the 2020 BUILD Grant. The funding was approved by the City Council as part of the annual budgeting process. The BUILD grant amount is $7,620,385, bringing the total available funding to $14,620,385.
Schedule 2: Billings TrailNet donated $85,000 towards the Marathon Loop (Skyline Trail) portion of the project and BUILD grant funds total $4,036,380 for a total project funding of $4,121,680. 
There is adequate budget to award the contracts.  Remaining funds will be used for construction contract administration, construction engineering, materials testing, and any change orders.