That the City Council:
A. Approve the award of a contract to Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., of Chino, California for the construction of Harbor Boulevard and Arbolita Drive Traffic Signal Modifications, Project No. 1-TC-20 in the amount of $290,580 and reject all other bids; and

B. Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., of Chino, California, in the amount of $290,580 and authorize staff to issue a purchase order to Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., of Chino, California, in the amount of $319,638, which includes a ten percent contingency; and

C. Approve an appropriation of $50,938 from the Gas Tax funds to provide additional funding to complete this project.

On June 19, 2017, the City Council adopted the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the Fiscal Year 2017-2018 budget.  One project included in the CIP was the Harbor Boulevard and Arbolita Drive Left Turn Lane Project.  Elements of the project include: upgrades to the intersection, including protected left turn lanes, new signal poles, and various other traffic equipment upgrades that will improve the flow of vehicle traffic though the intersection.  The commencement of this project was purposely delayed until certain elements of a private residential development project under construction at a site just north of the intersection were completed, which happened in late 2020.  

On December 10, 2020, a project bid was held for the construction phase of the City's project.  A total of 12 bids were received with the following results:
 

No.	Contractor.	Total Bid
1.	Baker Electric, Inc.	$253,562
2.	Alfaro Communications Construction, Inc.	$285,580
3.	Elecnor Belcor Electric, Inc.	$290,580
4.	Crosstown Electrical & Data, Inc.	$297,348
5.	California Professional Engineering, Inc.	$305,442
6.	DBX, Inc.	$305,762
7.	Calpromax Engineering, Inc.	$322,840
8.	Asplundh Construction, LLC	$324,910
9.	Comet Electric, Inc.	$326,566
10.	PTM General Engineering Services, Inc.	$342,024
11.	Siemens Mobility, Inc.	$362,900
12.	Yakar	$388,000

Baker Electric, Inc., submitted the lowest responsible bid in the amount of $253,562, and was awarded the project along with the plans and specifications approved at the February 16, 2021 City Council meeting.  However, to date, staff has not been able to execute an agreement with Baker Electric, Inc. and, in order to move this project forward, staff proceeded to the next lowest responsible bidder, Alfaro Communications Construction, Inc.
 
When staff contacted Alfaro Communications Construction, Inc., to determine if they would still honor their bid pricing from December 10, 2020, Alfaro Communications Construction, Inc., responded that they would honor their bid pricing as long as a change order was issued along with the award to cover the increase in material costs since their bid submittal.  However, their original bid price, including their proposed change order, placed them higher that the third lowest responsible bidder. Staff then contacted the third lowest responsible bidder, Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., to determine if they would honor their bid pricing from December 10, 2020.  They responded that they would, without the need for a change order.

This methodology of awarding the contract is consistent with Public Contractor Code Section 20174, which states, "The City Council may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award it to the next lowest responsible bidder.  If the legislative body awards the contract to the second lowest bidder, the amount of the lowest bidder’s security shall be applied by the city to the difference between the low bid and the second lowest bid, and the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the lowest bidder if cash or a check is used, or to the surety on the bidder’s bond if a bond is used."  In addition, Public Contractor Code Section 5106 states that, "If the public entity deems it is for its best interest, it may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award it to the second lowest bidder.  If the second lowest bidder fails or refuses to execute the contract, the public entity may likewise award it to the third lowest bidder.  On the failure or refusal of the second or third lowest bidder to whom a contract is so awarded to execute it, his or her bidder’s security shall be likewise forfeited." 

Due to the legal costs involved with trying to collect the bond, staff recommends the release of the bid bond for the initial low bidder (Baker Electric).  Therefore, since the lowest responsible bidder, Baker Electric, Inc., was unable to successfully execute the contract and the second lowest bidder was also unable to successfully execute the contract at the originally bid price, the City Council may award this project to the third lowest responsible bidder, Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc.

The bid from Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., is in the amount of $290,580, which is $27,420 (8.6%) lower than the Engineer’s estimate of $318,000.  References for Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., have been reviewed by staff and found to be satisfactory.  The proposed contractor has completed projects of similar scope with several other public agencies, all of which were found to be satisfactory. There is no record of excessive change order requests from this contractor, and the contractor maintains a valid Contractor’s License.

This project was originally approved by Council with a $280,000 budget funded by available Gas Tax funds. Of that amount, $11,300 was spent on the design in late 2020, leaving $268,700 for construction.  Based on the recommended bid award of $319,638, which includes a 10 percent contingency, the project budget requires an additional appropriation of $50,938 from the Gas Tax fund balance to provide sufficient funding to complete the project. 
 

RN 1.8	Safe Street Design
ITS 1.2	Signal Coordination
ITS 1.3	Advance Control Technology
ITS 1.4	Traffic Signal Improvements
ITS 1.5	Traffic Signal Optimization