Hult Center Roofing Improvement Findings.pdf

Date: December 16, 2022

To: Vicki Silvers, Assistant Finance Director / Purchasing Agent AIC

From: Shawn Hubbell, Purchasing Analyst

Subject: Approval of utilizing CM/GC solicitation method for Hult Center Metal Roofing

Project and Hult Center Timbers Improvement Project

Background:

The Facility Management Division has been tasked with managing the design and construction of improvements to the Hult Center metal roof and lobby timbers, which constitutes a public improvement project.

City of Eugene public contracting rule (Rule) requires contracts for public improvement projects with an estimated value over $100,000 be awarded through an Invitation to Bid to establish a qualified low bidder. This process facilitates a Design-Bid-Build approach to the public improvement construction in which the design is performed prior to and separate from solicitation of the construction contract (this is the typical method used).

However, Rule permits the use of alternative contracting methods (137-049-0620), which allows the City to consider cost in addition to qualitative factors, when such a method is deemed in the best interest of the City and community by either reducing costs or expediting the project completion.

Attached are the Findings to support use of an alternative contracting method for the construction of the Hult Center Roof Improvement project. For this project, the

Purchasing Office seeks to utilize the Construction Manager/General Contractor

(CM/GC) contracting method, which allows the designer, City, and contractor to work collaboratively, thereby expediting the construction, limiting costs and achieving a higher quality outcome.

Process:

Rule requires that the Contract Review Board (City Council) or its delegated purchasing agent approve use of an alternative contracting method. The Purchasing Manager has been delegated the authority to approve these requests.

If these draft findings are approved, the Purchasing Office and Facility Management will host a public hearing to allow comment on use of an Alternative Contracting Method prior to final adoption of findings.

REQUEST FOR USE OF

CM/GC PROCUREMENT PROCESS

FOR PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT

Findings of Fact Prepared by Shawn Hubbell, Purchasing Analyst (Central

Services) and Jenni Rogers, Design and Construction Section Project Manager

(Facility Management)

ORS 279C.335 (1) requires, with certain exceptions, that all public improvement contracts be based on competitive bidding and, under ORS 279C.375, awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The construction cost for the Hult Center Roof Improvement project will exceed $100,000, which would ordinarily require an Invitation to Bid procurement process. However, ORS279C.335(2), (City Rule 137-049-0620) permits the use of alternative contracting methods, which allows the City to consider cost in addition to qualitative factors, when such a method is deemed in the best interest of the

City and community by either reducing costs or expediting the project completion.

Rule requires that the Contract Review Board (City Council) or its delegated purchasing agent approve use of an alternative contracting method.

Therefore, pursuant to the City’s Administrative Order No. 44-14-08-F, section 137-049-

0620, approval is requested to proceed with a Construction Manager/General

Contractor (CM/GC) procurement process for the Hult Plaza Metal Roof Replacement and Lobby Timber Improvement projects through a qualifications-based, competitive selection process subject to the following conditions:

• Evaluation criteria to be applied in selecting the CM/GC firm are stated clearly in the solicitation document. Under the proposed CM/GC procurement process, the contractor would be selected utilizing a publicly advertised Request for Proposals (RFP). Criteria used to identify the CM/GC firm that best meets the public contracting needs may include but are not limited to cost, quality, experience relevant to the improvement to be constructed, and time required to commence and complete the improvement.

The Purchasing Office of the City of Eugene finds as follows:

Hult Plaza Metal Roof Replacement and Lobby Timbers Improvement Project

Description. The Metal Roof Replacement project consists of the replacement and repair of the metal roof assembly and includes addressing ongoing leaks and thermal bridging occurring within the assembly. The unique design of the roof includes integral gutters, internal downspouts, and expansive skylights, all of which require intricate design, detailing, and construction methods.

The Lobby Timbers Improvement project consists of addressing large checks (splits) in the wood timbers. Checking is a natural occurrence in wood members, but the checks occurring in the Hult Center’s Lobby are excessive in size. The excessive checks are reported to degrade the timber’s loading capacity due to a single member acting as two separate wood members. This timber improvement project proposes to stitch the wood timbers together in locations where large checks occur utilizing fully threaded screws designed for wood framing.

The work for each project will be extensive in which hundreds of fasteners will need to be strategically installed in the timbers with large checks, and intricate waterproofing work will be required within the metal roof assembly. The work could cause an interruption to the Hult Center’s normal schedule. To minimize these interruptions it will be paramount to the success of this project to retain a CM/GC to assist in pre-construction, design review, constructability review, value-engineering, pre-order materials, and phase the work to minimize impacts to the Hult Center’s schedule.

The City project team believes this would be best accomplished with a CM/GC form of procurement for this construction project. The team believes that the CM/GC procurement process will allow the City to meet the budget and scheduling requirements of this project without encouraging favoritism in the awarding of this contract or substantially diminishing competition.

Pursuant to City Rule 137-049-0630 and ORS 279C.335 (2):

Subject to subsection (4)(b) and (c) of this section, the Director of the Oregon

Department of Administrative Services, a local contract review board or, for contracts described in ORS 279A.050 (Procurement authority) (3)(b), the Director of

Transportation may exempt a public improvement contract or a class of public improvement contracts from the competitive bidding requirement of subsection (1) of this section after the Director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, the

Director of Transportation or the local contract review board approves the following findings that the contracting agency submits or, if a state agency is not the contracting agency, that the state agency that is seeking the exemption submits:

(a)The exemption is unlikely to encourage favoritism in awarding public improvement contracts or substantially diminish competition for public improvement contracts.

The exemption is unlikely to encourage favoritism or competition. The RFP will be open to all experienced and interested Contractors. The Contract will require the

CM/GC to actively solicit bids for all sub-contracts and all substantial work must be bid. The CM/GC will be able to competitively bid on any portion of the work and may perform work if they are the low bidder. The CM/GC will self-perform Pre-construction Services and General Conditions tasks. They may also self-perform minor work amounting to less than 15% of the total project cost.

(b)Awarding a public improvement contract under the exemption will likely result in substantial cost savings and other substantial benefits to the contracting agency or the state agency that seeks the exemption or, if the contract is for a public improvement described in ORS 279A.050 (Procurement authority) (3)(b), to the contracting agency or the public. In approving a finding under this paragraph, the Director of the Oregon

Department of Administrative Services, the Director of Transportation or the local contract review board shall consider the type, cost and amount of the contract and, to the extent applicable to the particular public improvement contract or class of public improvement contracts, the following:

(A)How many persons are available to bid;

To encourage competition, the RFP will be advertised statewide using the state’s procurement platform, OregonBuys. Included in the RFP will be specific criteria to be used in evaluating proposals. Prior to award an opportunity to protest will be allowed pursuant to Rule 137-049-0450.

(B)The construction budget and the projected operating costs for the completed public improvement;

The budget estimate is $1,200,000 to $1,600,000 which may increase based on other funding becoming available.

(C)Public benefits that may result from granting the exemption;

The Public will benefit from granting the bidding exemption by allowing a

Construction Manager/General Contractor to take part in design review, early procurement, scheduling, value engineering, and performing some early work prior to the design being fully completed. This will result in the project attaining substantial completion earlier than if a traditional design-bid-build process were done. Completing the construction work in an efficient manner will help to minimize interruptions to the Hult Center’s normal operations.

(D)Whether value engineering techniques may decrease the cost of the public improvement;

By utilizing the CM/GC approach, value engineering will occur during the design phase rather than after bidding. This will result in immediate feedback on issues of constructability, cost, quality, and scheduling of the project. This should impact the overall project by streamlining the construction phase, resulting in savings of both time and money.

(E)The cost and availability of specialized expertise that is necessary for the public improvement;

The CM/GC approach will allow the City and the designer to collaborate with the construction manager on items such as scheduling and value engineering early in the process.

(F)Any likely increases in public safety;

The CM/GC may plan and schedule higher risk activities around the Hult

Center’s schedule.

(G)Whether granting the exemption may reduce risks to the contracting agency, the state agency or the public that are related to the public improvement;

There could be additional project costs if a traditional contracting method were used due to additional project time.

(H)Whether granting the exemption will affect the sources of funding for the public improvement;

While granting this exemption does not have an effect on what source of funds are utilized, utilizing a CM/GC method will allow for phased construction, timely resolution to unforeseen conditions, timely value-engineering and subcontracting earlier, which could lead to savings of public funds.

(I) Whether granting the exemption will better enable the contracting agency to control the impact that market conditions may have on the cost of and time necessary to complete the public improvement;

The exemption would allow the City to ensure that the project is substantially complete quicker than if a traditional design-bid-build method were used, resulting in time savings and having the contractor involved early will help promote value engineering during the design phase .

(J) Whether granting the exemption will better enable the contracting agency to address the size and technical complexity of the public improvement;

The exemption will allow collaboration between the city, the designer, and the construction manager. This collaboration during the design phase will help guide the scope of the project to ensure the project team can meet schedule and budget constraints. It is expected that the CM/GC would perform

Constructability reviews during the Construction Documents phase, allowing for adjustments in detail complexity and suggesting revisions to the project scope to fit within the budget.

(K)Whether the public improvement involves new construction or renovates or remodels an existing structure;

The project will renovate the Hult Center’s existing roof assembly and repair the structural timbers.

(L)Whether the public improvement will be occupied or unoccupied during construction;

The Hult Center will be occupied and will need to be accessible. Having a

CM/GC team involved early to assist in work scheduling and coordinating different phases of work should minimize disruptions.

(M)Whether the public improvement will require a single phase of construction work or multiple phases of construction work to address specific project conditions; and

The proposed work is anticipated to be completed as one project to minimize disruptions and additional costs that could result from having different phases.

(N)Whether the contracting agency or state agency has, or has retained under contract, and will use contracting agency or state agency personnel, consultants and legal counsel that have necessary expertise and substantial experience in alternative contracting methods to assist in developing the alternative contracting method that the contracting agency or state agency will use to award the public improvement contract and to help negotiate, administer and enforce the terms of the public improvement contract.

City staff with experience administering and using the CM/GC process are available for this project.

Based on the Findings of Facts presented to me, I approve utilization of the alternative contracting method proposed.

Vicki Silvers, Assistant Finance Director / Purchasing Agent AIC

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