Consultant to offer general services on as-needed basis and continue administering hot-mix program
Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Lennox and Addington County has tapped G.D. Jewell Engineering Inc. for two engineering and administration assignments.
At their last regular meeting, councillors received a report from the County’s roads and bridges manager Chris Wagar detailing RFP 2017-11, which aimed to identify a firm for the provision of general engineering services and assistance on an as-needed basis. Wagar’s report said the scope of the work could cover a range of technical disciplines like database management, budgeting, right-of-way control, design, tendering, traffic engineering, transportation planning, structural engineering, standards and policies, property acquisition, and monitoring or reporting.
Seven firms were invited to bid on the RFP and four qualified companies replied. Wagar indicated staff used a weighted criteria to evaluate the responses. Some 30 per cent of a score was a cost assessment of hourly rates of staff and subcontractors. The remaining 70 per cent was broken down to create a company profile with 15 per cent based on references, 15 per cent on experience of available local personnel, 15 per cent of experience with urban and rural municipal roads and bridges projects, 15 per cent on experience and performance with municipalities, and 10 per cent on familiarity with this type of project.
G.D. Jewell ranked first, followed in succession by Ainley Graham and Associates Ltd, The Greer Galloway group Inc, and BT Engineering Inc. According to Wagar, the G.D. Jewell bid offered significant savings based on fee schedules submitted by bidders. “G.D. Jewell’s projected rates were the lowest and were estimated at 21 per cent lower than the average of the three remaining bidders.”
The firm, which has offices in Belleville and Kingston was also selected to offer design and contract administration services for the County’s hot-mix paving program. Wagar reported that G.D Jewell managed the program for the municipality from 2003-2015 consecutively, then earned a competitive bid for 2016 through a request for proposals. Wagar told councillors the company submitted an offer to undertake the work in 2018 for its 2016 rates.
According to Wagar, the company’s familiarity with the municipality was key.
“(Jewell) has provided service to the County for many tasks, managing numerous capital construction projects and can provide economic efficiencies by managing the 2018 program,” he wrote in his report. “(Jewell) is very familiar with the expectations and procedure of the County and local municipalities based on their past work on both County and local municipality projects.”
Wagar added the municipality has seen benefits and efficiencies in offering extensions for multi-year assignments when an advance commitment to future rates was made. He noted the specific value of the work cannot yet be determined as the draft program is still being developed, but typically the cost of engineering design, tender preparation and administration, and contract inspection and administration typically accounts for between five-to-seven per cent of the capital cost of the program.
Councillor Gord Schermerhorn asked if contracting based on 2016 rates could result in extras at the end of the contract. Wagar replied that G.D. Jewell issues an hourly late. If staffing costs to do the work go up, that simply means the company is willing to take less profit to do the work.