Subject:
Title
Approval RE: Ratification of Emergency Purchase Order for Repair to Minton Road Bridge over the Tillman Canal - District 5
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Fiscal Impact:
$233,756 which includes a five (5) percent contingency by reallocating a portion of the Public Works FY22 budgeted reserves ($662,462) for bridge repairs to operating.
Dept/Office:
Public Works Department/Finance and Contracts Administration
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners approve the Emergency Purchase Order authorized by the County Manager for the repair to the Minton Road Bridge over the Tillman Canal via after-the-fact ratification and authorize any necessary Budget Change Requests associated with this action.
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Summary Explanation and Background:
On July 7, 2022, the County Manager approved an Emergency Purchase Order for the repair to the Minton Road Bridge over the Tillman Canal in the amount of $233,756 which includes a five (5) percent contingency of $11,131. Per the Purchasing Manual, this repair meets the criteria of an emergency purchase of contractual services, because the conditions occurring at the Bridge can affect the safety and welfare of the County and its citizens. This repair is needed to ensure continued operation of the Bridge as we have determined that there is a high probability of failure of the bridge which could result in serious injury to the public and cause additional costly damage to the bridge. Further, it was determined that the work to resolve this condition needs to be pursued urgently to avoid and reduce the probability of those damages. In accordance with the adopted purchasing manual and to the end of avoiding those risks, the County Manager may approve an Emergency Purchase Order exceeding $100,000 conditioned on making a report to the Board for ratification after-the-fact. This agenda item is to address that report to the Board of County Commissioners.
By way of more detail concerning the bridge condition, there are multiple failures in the middle of the two southbound travel lanes on the Bridge. The scope of the project will repair the compromised approach slabs and remove the steel armoring on the southwest quadrant of the Bridge including, but is not limited to maintenance of traffic and necessary engineering.
After reports of concerns by the public, staff investigated and confirmed a serious condition existed. As a result, staff contacted a structural engineer working for RUSH Construction, Inc. (RUSH) which is under a continuing contract with the County for services which could include the needed work for the bridge repair. The RUSH engineer thoroughly reviewed the issue on behalf of the County. RUSH is under a continuing contract that expires on July 12, 2022 which is well before the repair work could be authorized as a separate Construction Management agreement was needed in accordance with the contract, but due to the limited time for the review and approval process, this Agreement could not be executed prior to contract expiration. Thus, issuing an Emergency Purchase Order was the only viable alternative as the bridge condition continues to worsen and cannot wait for the normal procurement process for similar services from another new continuing contract or other procurement methods. In-short this emergency purchase order was significantly faster than any other available process to address the urgently needed bridge repairs.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
None