Approve Change Order No. 1 to Agreement No. 5555-2023-3011-VINTAGE for the County Road (CR) 27 Bike Lane & Road Rehabilitation Project with Vintage Paving Co., Inc., to increase the maximum compensation by $297,567.95 to a new maximum amount of $1,070,191.90 due to necessary quantity adjustments for four Project bid items. (No general fund impact) (Echiburú/Riddiough)

Approve and authorize the Interim Director of Public Works to sign Change Order No. 1 to Agreement No. 5555-2023-3011-VINTAGE for the County Road (CR) 27 Bike Lane & Road Rehabilitation Project with Vintage Paving Co, Inc., to increase the maximum compensation by $297,567.95 to a new maximum amount of $1,070,191.90 due to necessary quantity adjustments for four Project bid items.

This action will allow the Department to proceed with completing the ongoing construction of the County Road 27 Bike Lane & Road Rehabilitation Project (Project) before the winter season.

 
Background
 
The Project involves pavement rehabilitation of approximately 1.25 miles of County Road (CR) 27. Section 1 is from CR 99 to Myrtle Lane, and Section 2 extends from Myrtle Lane to west of the California Northern Railroad tracks, just east of CR 100A. See Attachment A for a project location map. Section 1 will include widening of the paved road shoulders to provide six-foot wide Class II bike lanes. The rehabilitation treatment includes a micro-surface layer installed on the existing pavement surface, followed by an asphalt rubber chip seal, and concluding with a final layer of hot mix asphalt. This work will be followed by shoulder work to conform to the existing grades and driveways. All construction will occur within the existing road right-of-way.
 
Section 2 will have the existing road width treated with a micro-surface layer on the existing pavement, followed by an asphalt rubber chip seal on top. Widening the road was not necessary in this section as the existing width is sufficient for bikes.  The two-layer treatment will not be applied to the Caltrans-maintained concrete bridge deck surface.  All roadwork is being completed under traffic control, involving lane closures and minor delays to traffic during the workday.
 
On April 26, 2022, the Board approved the Project construction budget of $750,000 and allowed the Director of Public Works to execute a construction contract with the lowest responsive bidder, and the authority to approve all construction change orders, provided the contract amount does not exceed available funds for the project.

On October 18, 2022, during Project construction, our contractor, Vintage Paving Co., Inc. (Vintage Paving), notified County construction inspection staff that there appeared to be error in the County’s area calculation for the microsurface treatment layer.  Staff reviewed the situation, and concurred that there was an error in the cost estimate calculation for the area to be covered with the microsurface treatment.  The total area was short by approximately 19,000 square yards.  Vintage Paving was able to adjust their operations that day and complete the entire treatment area, and not leave the Project half complete.

After further review by staff, this error was compounded in that the following treatment to be applied for the Project was based on the same area calculation.  The asphalt rubber chip seal treatment was determined to be short the same area.  Vintage Paving has agreed to complete both additional treatment surface areas per the original bid item unit prices.

Due to increases in materials costs from the low estimates for these treatment areas, and to promote completion of the Project ahead of winter, staff is requesting approval to increase the maximum compensation by $297,567.95 to a new maximum amount of $1,070,191.90 for adjusting quantities for four bid items for the Project with the approval of Change Order No. 1 (Attachment B).

The additional cost for the construction work described above exceeds the statutory contract change order limits for Public Contract Code section 20137. Changes exceeding the Public Contract Code section 20137 limit would ordinarily require competitive bidding. However, under Graydon v. Pasadena Redevelopment Agency (1980) 104 Cal.App.3d 631, competitive bidding is not required where such bidding would be unavailing and impractical and would not produce any public advantage. Competitive bidding for the extra work in this case would not have produced any public advantage, and it is in both the best interest of the County and the public to work with the existing contractor on the Project rather than competitively bidding these Project changes because: 

 The amount budgeted in the FY 2022/23 Road Fund budget for capital projects is sufficient to cover the cost of the recommended action. Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the Road Improvement and Accountability Act of 2017, is providing the funds for construction.  

The competitive bid process was completed in accordance with State law. The project was advertised on June 3, 2022, and bids were opened and read publicly at the Department of Community Services on June 30, 2022.  Six bids were received at the bid opening on June 30, 2022, ranging from $772,623.95 to $955,000.

Vintage Paving was the lowest bidder and following receipt of the contractor’s bond and insurance certificates, the contract was executed on August 15, 2022.