Memorandum 14-043 Recommendation on Selection of GC/CM for the Proposed Public Safety Building Project

Memorandum ID: 
14-043
Memorandum Status: 
Backup

Details

Memorandum 14-043

TO:                       MAYOR WYTHE AND CITY COUNCIL

FROM:                 PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING REVIEW COMMITTEE

THRU:                  RENEE KRAUSE, CMC, DEPUTY CITY CLERK I

DATE:                  MARCH 6, 2014

SUBJECT:           RECOMMENDATION ON SELECTION OF GC/CM FOR THE PROPOSED PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

The City Council, by and through Ordinance 13-38(S), provided direction and funding to begin preliminary engineering and design work for a new public safety building. The City has advertised for firms interested in providing those services, and also providing for expansion into work that may follow, including eventual construction of the new facilities. The Council subsequently passed Resolution 14-020 to establish the process of selection and oversight, and appointed a committee to assist the City in this regard.  The Committee has achieved its first benchmark, and now forwards this report, together with recommendations, for your disposal.

 

REPORT

The City received proposals from seven very qualified contractors, all of whom have past success in public works construction, but with a wider range of GC/CM experience. The Committee met three times in restricted (executive) session. We invited the participation of Walt Wrede, Carey Meyer, Dan Nelsen, and Dan Miotke, City employees with knowledge and information valuable to the selection process.

 

The first meeting was to evaluate and score the proposals.  Each member reviewed the proposals independently, and the scoring was very consistent. The committee was in complete agreement as to the selection of firms (two) that were asked to provide further information and interviews. They are Watterson Construction, teamed with the design firm of Bettisworth North, and Cornerstone General Contractors, Inc., teamed with the design firm of USKH. The firms are all located in Anchorage.

 

The second meeting, held on February 28, was to interview Watterson Construction. Watterson brought 7 people to the interview, including a firm principal, a project manager, a site superintendent, architects, and fire and justice design specialists.

The third meeting, held on March 6, was to interview Cornerstone General Contractors, Inc. Cornerstone brought 7 people, including a principal of the firm, a project manager, safety manager, their proposed project superintendent, lead design consultant from USKH, project architect from USKH, and funding and public relations specialist from USKH.

 

Following the conclusion of the Cornerstone interview, the Committee reconvened to again review the initial proposals from Watterson and Cornerstone, along with the supplemental information and interview assessments. We again were uniform in our evaluation of the team best suited to not only provide the initial services envisioned in Ordinance 13-38(S), but to carry through if the construction is eventually funded.

 

OTHER BUSINESS:

The City Manager has provided us with a Memorandum concerning a new potential site located on Pioneer Avenue. Site selection is one of the next two milestone elements that will need to be addressed before any meaningful design work can begin.

Concurrent with site selection, the architect can begin gathering “program” information that will lead to decisions in the size and function of the new facilities.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1)            We recommend City Council award the GC/CM contract between the City and Cornerstone General Contractors, Inc., of Anchorage, Alaska, within the authorized project budget for the Design and Construction Services of the Public Safety Building Project and that the City Manager be authorized to enter into negotiations and execute the required Pre-Construction Agreements.

2)            We further recommend City Council expand the duties of the Public Safety Building Review Committee to help determine the best location for the siting of the new facilities. This will clarify the Committee’s involvement in all the pertinent issues, and insure a level of public participation in the process.