Consider Change Order for Improvement Project 10-22, Parking Ramp Expansion

On August 9, 2012, City Council awarded Improvement Project #10-22 to Knutson Construction for $2,734,000. The purpose of this case is to provide the City Council with the information received during the preliminary soils investigation that was completed in August by Braun Intertec subsequent to the award and request authorization later this evening to issue a not to exceed change order for the changed condition found.

The preliminary soils that were encountered indicated that there are poor soils between 15 and 35 feet below the surface and that some the columns could settle as much as 3 inches with the loads that are anticipated for a structure of this size. Attached to this case is a memorandum from LSA Design outlining the poor soil condition that was encountered as well as a recommended action. Bill Fossing will be present at the meeting to answer any questions that you may have regarding this issue. 

As you recall, Staff was authorized a 5% construction contingency to deal with issues and change orders that arise as the project progresses. That amounted to $136,700 that would be allowed for construction change orders that could be approved by Staff. Obviously, this single change order changes the scope of work that is required to complete the parking ramp expansion and therefore, would need to remain inplace to handle little changes as the project progresses. 

There are three Contracts with this project. Knutson Construction $2,734,000 for construction, LSA Design $132,000 for construction administration, and Braun Intertec $55,453 for specialty inspections and soil investigation. Each of these Contracts will need to be revised to correct the situation encountered.

The change order request for Knutson Construction is for an amount of $211, 077. This includes a not to exceed amount of approximately $14,000 for heating and enclosing the first deck pour which was originally scheduled to occur in mid October and will not likely happen in early to mid November. Since the enclosing of this deck pour is largely temperature and seasonally dependant, we were able to negotiate that this amount of the change is only if necessary. The remainder of the amount is due to the labor, material, profit and overhead for the piling and foundation work. There are 39 pilings that are expected to be driven to a depth of 65 feet to provide the structural capacity necessary. The reason that the remainder of this change order is not a 'not to exceed' amount is that there may be additional cost that is necessary if the pilings need to be driven further but our soils engineer feels that this depth should be enough to handle the loads. We were also able to talk the Contractor into getting 2 more qualified quotes for this work. These quotes could decrease the construction change order but they cannot increase it. The reason we don't have the detailed quotes for the piling work in the case is because we do not want to disadvantage the Contractor that already supplied the original quote. If there is a change to this amount, Staff is proposing that the original 5% contingency be used as a funding source for the minor changes to depth of the pilings.

The change order request for LSA Design is a result in the amount of time that was necessary to handle the change in design for the piling work and oversee the installation of this foundation work and amounts to a change in fee of $12,000 to bring the overall construction administration contract to a not to exceed amount of $144,000.

The change order request for Braun Intertec is for additional specialty inspections with the foundations as well as a recommended existing conditions survey due to the vibrations that will be experienced with the pile driving. This will bring the total not to exceed amount of the Braun contract to $64,953.

As you recall the parking ramp expansion construction is funded by federal funds so the $211,077 would be split $168,861.60 (80% federal) and $42,215.40 (20% City). The funding source for the construction administration ($12,000)and specialty inspection ($9,500) would come from TIF District No 1. As you recall the bids came in $1,400,000 lower than the Engineers estimate so there is money that has been budgeted in this TIF District sufficient to handle these changes.