Councillors here are awarding the tenders for the Cork Street reconstruction to Reeves Construction for $762,103.
The work is required after the installation of the Cork Street sewage pumping station.
Frank Vanderloo, of BM?Ross Associates, stated in a report to council that of the three tenders, Reeves was below the estimate of $802,000 and the bid was 83% of the next lowest bidder.
Other bidders for the project included Moorefield Construction ($919,198) and Elgin Construction ($948,462).
“Based on our review of budget numbers we provided to the township in January 2010, Reeves tender price is slightly below the budgeted amount. However, the cost for investigations and pending remediation work as required for clean-up of petroleum contaminated soils and groundwater will be an extra cost, a portion of which may be eligible under the stimulus fund grant for the pumping station project.
The project is comprised of the following items:
– Full reconstruction (sanitary sewer, watermain, storm sewer) and upgrading of Cork Street to a full urban section (excluding a final lift of asphalt), from Queen Street to just south of Waterloo Street opposite the new station.
– The sanitary sewer will be constructed deeper, so a future gravity sewer could be constructed west down Queen Street and almost all the way to Sligo Road.
– The new watermain will be 300mm diameter to improve fire protection to the area.
– Servicing stubs will be provided for Trenwith development’s property.
– The storm sewer is being oversized so it can handle emergency overflow discharges from the new plant wetwell.
– The existing 1,200mm diameter drainage ditch culvert will be replaced with a larger capacity 1,220mm times 1,920mm concrete horizontal-elliptical pipe.
– A new 250mm diameter forcemain will be constructed from the new plant down Waterloo Street to replace the existing 150mm forcemain. That forcemain will reconnect to the existing 200mm forcemain at a point approximately 100 metres east of Cork Street.
– The existing 150mm forcemain, which lies generally along centerline of Waterloo Street, will be removed and a new sanitary sewer constructed and sanitary service lines installed to allow for servicing of unserviced Waterloo Street homes.
– 1.5m wide sidewalk will be constructed on the east side of Cork Street, from Queen Street to Waterloo Street.
– The existing Cork Street SPS will be demolished.
The tender also includes the following:
– Provisional Items $29,405 (Reeves tender) if poor soil conditions are encountered in sewer and watermain trenches and for handling and trucking of contaminated soils (encountered as part of the tender only) to the Riverside landfill.
Contingency Allowance: $25,000 (for extra work that may arise, if approved by the Works Superintendent).
Construction is to be completed by Nov. 19, after the new Cork Street plant has been fully commissioned. The Township has received all of the necessary Ministry of the Environment approvals.
The three tenders were first reviewed by staff and the township’s engineering firm, before coming to council.
Public Works Manager Gary Williamson added that when one looked at the difference in the tender prices, part of that is because of location.
“One of the reasons there is that big of discrepancy is that this project is going to involve a significant amount of timing with the contractor which is building the Cork Street pumping station.”
The roadwork cannot be completed until the new pumping station is up and running, Williamson explained.
“We need to make sure the new one is running properly before the old one can be disconnected and abandoned.”
He said what the work entails is reversing the flow of the gravity sewer to take it to the new one and the force main is going to be cut off and start up the street further.
“It is imperative the new one is operational before the old one can be abandoned.”
He said the municipality was fortunate that Reeve is already doing the Egremont Street project in Mount Forest. That work allows the company to stop work on that project for periods of time, as needed.
He explained the situation the other companies would have run into involved mobility, where they would be coming into town to do a little bit of work, then leave, and come back when the other contractor was ready for them.
“It wasn’t just a clean project bid to come in and do the work.”
He said it was very complicated putting it all together for timing.
“The Cork Street pumping station has to be completed by the end of September, and this project has to be done by November because the funding (allowing it to proceed) is only good until March,” Williamson said.
That funding does not take Canadian winters into account, he added. “If we don’t have it done, we don’t get all the funding for it. Therefore it is imperative it gets completed this fall.”
