county commission
Cari Drees
Starting on September 12 an interview committee comprised of ten people and leadership, met to review the Request for Qualifications from three candidates for Construction Management Services as the county moves forward with the Substance Use Crisis facility. After the interviews each of the committee members were given a score sheet to help determine the appropriate firm for the project. To ensure that the scores were calculated “apples to apples” the committee members based their choices on a 14-month construction process and an 11.4 million dollar “owners’ construction” piece. After the tally was calculated the scores broke down to 920 for Gertz Construction, Construction Engineers at 908, McGoff Construction followed at 850.
Construction Engineers presented costs, including insurance, of $1.44M. McGoff Construction followed with $1.28M, and Gertz Construction came in at $1.1M. Personnel costs followed the cost order with monthly totals in the $55,000 range.
A lively discussion followed regarding scoring and a concern that the top score company didn’t have a “self-performing” component which puts the county at risk if the contractor had problems or needed to walk away from the project. The difference in scoring and business performance between Construction Engineers who was able to provide extra staff and Gertz Construction were highlighted. In the end Commissioner Mongeau clarified that in regard to motive, “I think that it is important that the public knows that there’s not a single thing that any individual of this board stands to gain from any decision. I think that the motive is what will the public get…at what price.”
Commissioner Kevin Campbell moved to accept the proposal with a CMAR for Construction Engineers. The motion failed to gain a second, and the motion died. Commissioner Gross moved to enter into contract negotiations with Gertz Construction. Commissioner Ebinger seconded the motion which passed after a roll call. Contract negotiations will begin immediately.
