Committee approves street Contract B bid

Contingent upon review by the city attorney and approval by the full council, the bid for Contract B of the citywide street improvements project will be awarded to Glenn Legé Construction, the same company that is currently working in the city on Contract A.
Legé’s low bid on the project came in at $9.96 million, about $1.6 million over the engineer’s initial estimate.
Tim Mader, city engineer, explained during recent committee meetings that difference “is due primarily to the sharp increase in the price of asphalt since the bid letting process for Contract A — roughly six months ago.”
He pointed out a pair of “asphalt-based pay” line items on the contract to emphasize that point:
• “Asphalt Concrete Surface” accounted for roughly $485,000 of the $1.6 million; and
• “Asphalt Concrete Patching” accounted for roughly $143,000 of the 1.6 million.
In addition to the effect of the increased cost in asphaltic concrete material, Mader explained:
• “Mobilization” accounted for about $200,000;
• “Traffic Control, Temporary Signs, etc.” accounted for about $380,000; and
• “Million Asphalt pavement” accounted for about $86,000.
Council members asked about the “mobilization” cost since the construction company is already in Crowley.
Mader explained that mobilization is an item included in all contracts and “if we don’t include it, the cost will just get spread out among the other line items.”
He reminded the aldermen that bids for Contract A came in at nearly $700,000 under estimate. “So, the sum of the low bids received for Contract A plus Contract B is approximately $900,000 more than our original engineer’s opinion of probably construction cost, which is not only within the range of acceptability with respect to cost estimation, but is also consistent with the current rate of inflation,” Mader said.
“We believe that the previous award of Contract A and this award of Contract B, as recommended, would result in a total construction cost of Contract A plus Contract B that is apparently within budget, as funded by the already issued Series 2020 bond, the pending Series 2022 bond, and the current and projected balance of the city’s Infrastructure Fund.”
The street improvement program was divided into two sections — Contract A and Contract B.
Contract A includes that area of the city north of the railroad tracks and east of North Parkerson Avenue to Northern Avenue and all of South Crowley.
Contract B is the remainder of the city.
At its April meeting, the council adopted a resolution approving the “Contract A” construction plans and specifications for the project.
Bids were received on May 28 and, at the June meeting, the council awarded the construction contract to Glenn Legé Construction, LLC, in the amount of $6.8 million.
The full council will consider approval of the contract bid when it meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday.