Agenda Item Wording:
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Authorize the City Manager to award a contract for RFB 21-22-07 Annual contract supply & delivery of mulch for a not to exceed the annual amount of $275,100.00 to Sierra Materials and Trucking Company of Merced, CA.
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Deadline for Action: None.
Submitting Department: Administration - CIP Engineering
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Casey Chu, Assistant Engineer, casey.chu@visalia.city, 713-4491
Diego Corvera, Civil Engineer, diego.corvera@visalia.city, 713-4209
Frank Senteno, City Engineer, frank.senteno@visalia.city, 713-4331
Nick Mascia, Assistant City Manager, nick.mascia@visalia.city, 713-4323
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to award a contract for a not to exceed annual amount of $275,100.00 (up to $1.375 million over 5 years) to Sierra Materials and Trucking Company, for the supply and delivery of mulch.
Summary:
The City of Visalia has developed a Capital Improvement Program to provide improvements and to maintain the City’s infrastructure. There are multiple landscaping projects, as part of the City’s Capital Improvement Program, to beautify and enhance the aesthetics of the City’s infrastructure and facilities. This annual contract will provide the mulch required for those landscaping projects by supplying and delivering mulch as necessary to the various project jobsites. This contract includes an option of four (4), single-year contract extensions for a possible term of five (5) years.
Bidding Process:
A formal City bid process was conducted and on November 30, 2021, City staff opened two (2) bids that was submitted for the project. Per the construction bid documents, the apparent low bid was established by the lowest total of the bid. The results are summarized below and are listed in order from lowest to highest bid.
No. Contractor Location Total Bid
1. Sierra Materials and Trucking Company Merced, CA $275,100.00
2. West Coast Sand & Gravel, Inc Buena Park, CA N/A
West Coast Sand & Gravel, Inc submitted an incomplete bid and was deemed unresponsive. Since West Coast Sand & Gravel, Inc did not submit a bid on the supplied form as required under Item 23 of the General Conditions of RFB 21-22-07 and did not provide a quote using the same unit of quantity as was in the bid schedule, their bid was dismissed.
Engineering staff has reached out to both the City’s Urban Forestry division and to Urban Tree Foundation, a landscape architect firm which the City works with often, to confirm the competitiveness of the bid prices received. Both stated that the bid prices received are typical of the current conditions of the mulch market.
Staff contacted Sierra Materials and Trucking Company’s references which included the Federal Aviation Administration and Merced County. References provided positive feedback regarding their experiences working with Sierra Materials and Trucking Company.
Sierra Materials and Trucking Company submitted the lowest responsive bid and it is Staff’s recommendation they be awarded the contract.
Background Discussion:
For typical Capital Improvement Projects that involve landscaping, the project incorporates a mulch bid item into the project specifications and contract; the work associated with this mulch line item is then completed by a private contractor following the competitive bidding process.
For this annual contract, the supply and delivery of mulch are for Capital Improvement Projects funded by state or federal grants which include Irrigation and Landscaping work. These landscaping projects are grant funded and generally require the involvement of local community conservation corps as part of the grant requirements. The local community conservation corps would perform the landscape construction work in lieu of a private contractor.
Recent projects have contracted Community Services Employment Training (CSET), a non-profit organization providing training to at risk youth, to perform the landscaping work to fulfill grant requirements. Such work includes the St John’s River Riparian Corridor Restoration Westside and St John’s Eastside Renewal landscaping projects.
By creating this annual contract for the supply and delivery of mulch, the City can save costs and optimize the landscaping process by not needing to request three (3) quotes for each project. Upcoming projects that will make use of this annual contract will be for the landscape component of the Eastside Regional Park’s Basin G, Basin F, and Basin D recharge projects as well as the Peoples, Goshen, and Oaks Basins Flood Control project.
The previous Annual Contract Supply & Delivery of Mulch expired in 2019.
Fiscal Impact:
The initial contract term shall be for a one-year period. The work will be performed on an as needed basis and not to exceed $275,100 for the contract term. At the City’s option and with the consent of the contractor, the contract can be extended annually for four consecutive one-year periods. The prices bid by the vendor may be adjusted annually at time of contract renewal and upon mutual agreement of any increases or decreases.
The payment for the supply and delivery of mulch will be paid from the project funds requiring mulch. Projects anticipated to make use of this mulch contract include Basin G (CP0185), Basin F (CP0371), and Basin D (Upcoming CIP) of the Eastside Regional Park; the People’s Basin, Goshen Basin, and Oaks Basin Flood Control Projects (CP8334); and the St John’s Eastside Renewal Project (CP8131).
Prior Council Action:
None.
Alternatives:
Do not award the contract and staff will continue to request for three (3) quotes of mulch as needed for individual landscaping projects.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to execute a contract for RFB 21-22-07 for a not to exceed amount of $275,100.00 annually fora contracted supply & delivery of mulch to Sierra Materials and Trucking Company.
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Attachments:
1) Contractor Disclosure Form
2) Bid Summary