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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso - CC - 088-1997RESOLUTION NO. 88-97 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURLINGAME REJECTING ALL BIDS FOR THE CALIFORNIA DRIVE INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECT — CITY PROJECT NO. 9609 WHEREAS, the City of Burlingame is ready to begin construction of a new sewer interceptor along California Drive, which will cost more than $4,000,000; and WHEREAS, this project will be one of the most important and potentially disruptive projects undertaken by the City in the past decade, involving tunneling under the Union Pacific/Peninsula Joint Powers Board rail lines, affecting the Broadway/U.S. 101 /California Drive traffic complex, involving storm drainage facilities during the heart of the rainy season, and implicating the City's permits from the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Environmental Protection Agency; and WHEREAS, the City and its consulting engineers prepared extensive plans and specifications for the project; and WHEREAS, the City released a Notice Inviting Bids in conformance with the State Public Contracts Code and City procedures, and WHEREAS, the City distributed at least fifty-six sets of plans and specifications to contractors and other interested parties, and WHEREAS, the City held a pre-bid meeting with all interested persons, answered questions, and issued addenda in response to those questions, and WHEREAS, sealed bids were submitted and opened on October 14, 1997, at 2:00 p.m., but because three alternatives were to be bid, the identity of bidders with bid numbers submitted was not disclosed to either Public Works staff or the public but kept confidential by the City Clerk, and WHEREAS, after review of the alternative prices submitted, the apparent low bidder was identified and publicly disclosed; and WHEREAS, upon such disclosure, the City received protests from 4 other parties regarding the microtunneling qualifications of a listed subcontractor of the apparent low bidder under the terms and conditions of the plans and specifications; and WHEREAS, the apparent low bidder has not been able to articulate how its subcontractor's qualifications for microtunneling would conform to the plans and specifications; and WHEREAS, in addition, it has also been alleged that the other bidders and their subcontractors are not qualified under the terms and conditions of the specifications; and WHEREAS, it has been alleged that there are no contractors who could be qualified under the terms of the plans and specifications, and that this constitutes an anticompetitive practice by the City; and WHEREAS, it has been alleged that the protests submitted are invalid and the City may be barred from prequalifying subcontractors under State law, and WHEREAS, a substitute subcontractor has been proposed by the apparent low bidder, but it is not clear from the bidder's submittal whether that substitute is qualified under the terms of the plans and specifications, and WHEREAS, it appears that such a substitution might not be consistent with the letter or the spirit of the Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act; and WHEREAS, it appears that questions or concerns about qualification requirements should have been raised before the submission of bids or specified as exceptions in the bids submitted, and WHEREAS, Public Contracts Code § 20166 allows the City Council to reject all bids in its discretion, and the Notice Inviting Bids specifically reserved this right to the City Council; and WHEREAS, key purposes of the competitive bidding process are to protect the public and to provide all qualified bidders with a fair opportunity to participate; and WHEREAS, it is in the interest of the public and the City to reject all bids and readvertise with an even clearer specification of required qualifications for this vital project, NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Burlingame does hereby resolve, determine, and find as follows: 1. All bids received for Project No. 9609 are hereby rejected. 2. All bonds and security received in connection with the bids shall be returned to the bidders. 3. The project will be readvertised as directed by the Director of Public Works. MAYOR I, JUDITH A. MALFATTI, City Clerk of the City of Burlingame do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 17th day of November, 1997, and was adopted thereafter by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: I�►C�7�I.�K�I�1�C 1 ul� : �I:i.'�I ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: HARRISON, JANNEY, KNIGHT, O'MAHONY, SPINELLI NONE 3