To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Daniel Sailer, P.E., Public Works Director
Title
Resolution Approving a Construction Contract with TechCon Infrastructure, LLC, for the Downtown Railway Crossing Improvement Project
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Staff is seeking Town Council approval of a Resolution approving a Construction Contract with TechCon Infrastructure, LLC. for construction of the Downtown Railway Crossing Improvements Project.
The Downtown Railway Crossing Improvement Project is part of the greater Town effort to implement a railroad quiet zone through the downtown area. In order to implement a quiet zone, where passing trains will no longer use their horns when traversing downtown, safety improvements must be made at multiple street crossings. The proposed construction contract contains portions of the needed improvements that are not performed by the railroad (Union Pacific) and other town forces as outlined in the Construction and Maintenance agreements for the Second and Third Street crossing locations.
The total recommended encumbrance for this construction contract is $324,500. This is inclusive of the base contract value of $295,000, and a 10% Town managed contingency of $29,500. The information presented herein includes: notification and outreach efforts; history of past Town Council, Boards & Commissions and other discussions; discussion of improvement scope; and budget impacts.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
The project team will perform the following community notification and outreach efforts related to the project:
• Project website creation, including regular updates
• Social media posts to inform community of any impacts to traffic during construction
• Provide project article(s) to be included in Castle Rock Water Mailer at project completion
The primary goal related to community outreach for this project is twofold; (1) keeping the community informed during construction and, (2) inform the community once the improvements are complete and the quiet zone is to be implemented.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
There is extensive history of discussions surrounding the potential implementation of a Quiet Zone reaching back to 2007. The audience for these discussions has been Downtown Development Authority, Public Safety Commission, Public Works Commission and Town Council.
Recently, the project has been presented and adopted by Town Council earlier this year by way of resolution 2022-045, “A Resolution Approving the Pedestrian At-Grade Pathway Agreements Between the Union Pacific Railroad and the Town of Castle Rock for the Second and Third Street At-Grade Rail Crossings”. The aforementioned resolution approved a budget allocation as well as Railroad Agreements that specified the improvements that are to be completed by the Union Pacific Railroad, and the remainder to be completed by the Town. This recommended contract with TechCon will complete the work that the Town has responsibilities for.
Discussion
The limit of the Quiet Zone includes three public crossings at Second, Third and Fifth Streets. The following map shows the three crossing locations.
Figure 1: Improvement Area
There are several entities that have responsibilities associated with the full implementation of the Quiet Zone: Town, Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). The proposed construction contract with TechCon covers a majority of the Town performed improvements that include; additional curb and gutter and new pedestrian sidewalks at each crossing. These improvements allow for appropriate tie ins to UP’s track adjustments and new gate systems. Town staff will complete pavement striping and sign installations.
Contractor Selection
Following Town’s Purchasing Policies and Procedures, a construction contract was drafted and an Invitation for Bid (IFB) was competitively advertised for pricing. The Town received two bids for the contract as indicated below:
|
TABLE 1: BID RESULTS |
|
*Budget |
$ 314,000 |
|
JARCCO |
$ 194,000 |
|
TechCon |
$ 295,000 |
*$1,800,000 was encumbered with the approval of the Construction and Maintenance Agreements with the Union Pacific Railroad. Included within this amount was an estimated $300,000 for this contract work plus a portion of the estimated contingency amount.
While the contract items fall within the allocated budget for this work, adding the recommended 10% contingency takes the total encumbrance recommendation of $324,500 slightly higher. The balance of the $1.8 Million total budget allocation is projected to be sufficient to cover the improvements that will be made by the Union Pacific under the Construction and Maintenance agreements.
The basis of the higher of the two bids is estimated to be related to the following:
• Production within the Railroad right of way may have been estimated lower than anticipated to account for disruptions of work related to trains passing by
• Insurance premiums related to the railroad’s $10M liability insurance may not have been estimated at the appropriate level within the engineer’s estimate
• Inflationary pressures to labor, materials and equipment since the time the engineers estimate was completed
• Low total quantities of work may have caused the contractors estimated production to be lower, resulting in increased relative unit costs
Due diligence performed by Town staff of the two bids/bidders has resulted in a recommendation to award the construction contract to the second bidder (TechCon). While TechCon is not the
low bidder, they offer the best value to the Town in performing the work over JARCCO for the following reasons:
1. The low bidder does not have past experience working within the Railroad Right-of-Way, whereas TechCon does. The Union Pacific Railroad has extremely stringent permit application, coordination, safety training and insurance requirements. Selecting a contractor not experienced in this process, or familiar with the requirements may result in schedule and cost impacts to project execution.
2. Interviews with both firms reinforced the recommendation to award the contract to TechCon. During these interviews the low bidder indicated that expensive insurance premiums to obtain the required 10M liability coverage had not been factored into their bid pricing whereas TechCon had. Additionally, discussions during the contractor interviews about project sequencing and obtaining required railway flagging services indicated that the low bidder had not identified a feasible approach, whereas TechCon did.
While both bidders meet the requirements of the invitation for bid/contract, TechCon will provide best value to the Town in executing the construction contract due to their previous project experience and their approach to completing the proposed construction work.
Project Values
This project aligns with the Department’s Strategic Asset Management Plan’s (SAMP) policies of maximizing safety, and reliability.
Improving Safety - This project includes the construction of pedestrian facilities that will provide enhanced access across the railroad tracks at Second and Third streets. Additionally, the construction of new curb and gutter at these locations will allow for additional crossing gates (constructed by UP). These improvements result in high levels of safety for both traffic and pedestrians crossing the railway in the area.
Improving Reliability - The construction project will provide new and improved pedestrian facilities at the railway crossings. The new crossings will enhance the sidewalk and roadway network Downtown, improving reliability of transportation assets in the area.
An overview of the project area and proposed improvements to be constructed with this contract is depicted on Attachment A.
Construction Schedule
The proposed construction sequence/schedule is as follows:
1. Permitting, planning and preparation - through November 2022
2. Complete improvements - Early 2023
Budget Impact
Approval of resolution 2022-045, “A Resolution Approving the Pedestrian At-Grade Pathway Agreements Between the Union Pacific Railroad and the Town of Castle Rock for the Second and Third Street At-Grade Rail Crossings” assigned a budget for the Town and Union Pacific improvements of $1.8 Million.
The total recommended encumbrance for this construction contract is $324,500. This is inclusive of the base contract value of $295,000, and the 10% Town managed contingency of $29,500.
This leaves a balance of $1,475,500 for improvements to be made by the Union Pacific under the current Construction and Maintenance agreements. This is estimated to be sufficient to cover their costs as outlined in the agreements. What could change this is if the Union Pacific provides a new construction estimate that is higher than what they estimated within the agreements. There is no indication from them at the time of this writing that this will occur.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends Town Council approve the resolution as introduced by title. The Public Works Commission did not provide a formal recommendation on this item. Obtaining a Commission recommendation would have added two weeks onto the time to gain Town Council approval. With the window of available warm weather shrinking this time of year, staff feels that these are valuable weeks to utilize in construction.
Proposed Motion
“I move that Town Council approve the Resolution as Introduced by title.”
Alternative Motions:
“I move to approve the resolution as introduced by title with the following conditions: (list conditions).”
“I move to continue this item to the Town Council meeting on ____date to allow additional time to (list information needed).”
Attachments
Resolution
Contract
Attachment A: Project Improvements