Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 7262 |
| Work Detail | The Fifth Street construction project originally expected to cost $582,411 now has a budget of about $903,179. To get the job done before winter, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, Sept. 6, unanimously approved a request from the Jackson County Department of Transportation for up to $230,771 more in funding. Leoni Township also will contribute an additional $19,704, adding up to $106,484. JCDOT is responsible for as much as $350,888. The remaining $445,807 comes from grant money originally secured for the project. "We have numerous issues that have been investigated and reviewed on the project," said Christopher Bolt, JCDOT managing director. "(I'm) providing assurances that this will never happen again, the situation that we're in today." JCDOT is changing its process for reviewing projects because of these issues, Bolt said, including hiring Robb Welch as project manager to complete an audit and handle contract negotiations. Every current JCDOT currently is under extensive review, Bolt said. The additional $250,474 from Jackson County and Leoni Township is a "worst-case scenario," Bolt said, but must be done to keep the project moving. JCDOT still is working with the contractor to reduce costs, but the contractor has already absorbed a large amount of work free of charge, Bolt said. "The contractor, they've admitted some workmanship quality issues on their side of things," Welch said. "They're taking steps to remediate some of those areas." The additional funds come out of the contingency line item, Bolt said, which is used for unforeseen circumstances like this. He added they haven't had to tap into the contingency funds much recently. The project The project began in 2013, as grant money was set aside to fund the resurfacing of Fifth Street from Page Avenue to Broad Street in Michigan Center. The second grant helped fund improvements between Page Avenue and S. Lakeside Drive, including new sidewalks, a bike lane, parking, benches, streetlights and trees. Bids for the project opened in August 2015, with the lowest bid coming in at $652,705. The original engineer's estimate for the project was $582,411. Construction started May 23, but has stalled multiple times since late July for contractor workmanship. Three contract modifications have been added, totaling no more than $250,384. The modifications include the addition of message boards for the public, additional curb and gutter to be placed and adding items part of the original plans that were omitted, that must be included to receive the federal grant money. Through MDOT bidding process used for the project, JCDOT had to accept the lowest bidder for the project. However, the group can give the contractor a rating. If MDOT receives enough bad ratings for a particular contractor, the contractor can no longer bid on the projects. County Commissioner Carl Rice Jr. helped lead the initial push for the Fifth Street project. He spoke Tuesday at the county board's study session before moving to pass JCDOT's request recommendation. "There were a lot of missteps, but to the credit of those involved, they did not back down from those missteps. They stood up tall and they said, 'We're going to make this right,'" Rice said. "It's totally unfortunate. For me, this started out to be a wonderful thing and it's created quite a bit of disappointment." |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Construction |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2016/09/county_to_give_up_to_an_additi.html |
