Title
143rd Street and LaGrange Road Intersection Improvement Project - Contract Value Increase
History
At the February 7, 2011, Public Works and Engineering Committee meeting, the bid submitted by F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates, LLC (Paschen) for the reconstruction and widening of 143rd Street and LaGrange Road was recommended for Board approval. The Village Board of Trustees concurred with the Committee’s recommendation and on February 21, 2011, authorized the Village Manager to enter into a contract with F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates, LLC in an amount not to exceed $10,513,202.74 as provided in their January 14, 2011, bid including Alternates 1, 3, 5 and 6, and that a Contingency Fund in an amount not to exceed $511,556.19 be included in the funding authorization thereby providing that an authorized construction budget for this project be set at a not-to-exceed value of $11,024,758.93.
At the time the Village awarded the contract to Paschen, the State permit allowing the Village to construct the U.S. 45 (LaGrange Road) portion of the improvement was still being reviewed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Prior to recommending that the contract be awarded, despite not having the permit from IDOT, staff and engineers closely reviewed outstanding items awaiting IDOT’s approval. Roadway plans had been reviewed and comments provided. A collective decision was reached to request a partial permit from IDOT so work could begin in order for the contractor to be able to meet the November 11, 2011, substantial completion date and to recommend awarding the Paschen contract.
Following award, staff and engineers worked diligently, quickly and resourcefully to provide answers to IDOT’s review comments. IDOT issued partial permits to the Village allowing specific work to be undertaken while issues delaying the final permit continued to be addressed.
We are now very near to both the substantial completion date called out in the contract and actual substantial completion. Throughout the project, IDOT has been providing permission to continue work as technical issues internal at IDOT were worked through as the issues applied to the entire LaGrange Road Corridor, not just our current project.
Remembering that in 2010, as the Village was finalizing design so our intersection improvement project could be bid, we were advised that IDOT was advancing the reconstruction of LaGrange Road from 131st Street to 179th Street. As a result of this, issues beyond what had arisen during IDOT’s pre-bid plan review arose. Due in part to the advancement of the IDOT work, IDOT directed that changes be made to accommodate IDOT needs identified during their active Phase II Design both north and south of our project. As the coordination evolved between the three projects, details and project limits were modified several times so future projects would build upon what the Village is building with minimal removal of our work, and to allow use of temporary pavement and retaining walls. Some of the changes saved the Village cost, others added to the cost of the Village’s project. Overall, changes totaling approximately $783,887.16 were added to the work being performed by Paschen. Of this value, $360,664.63 was initiated by the Village and $423,222.53 was required by IDOT. Of the changes initiated by the Village, approximately $98,640 was to build omitted or “gapped” areas that were not included in the plan quantities that were bid. These additions were added once the Village received permission to construct improvements on property that was a part of Orland Plaza, eliminating gaps, thereby delivering a more complete corridor along 143rd Street. Every change order was carefully reviewed by the Project Manager and required justification from the Contractor, with concurrence by the Project Management team before they were presented to the Village for consideration. Regarding the IDOT required changes, it is the intent of the Village to seek reimbursement from IDOT for changes due to adjacent project details not provided to the Village during Design review. The IDOT corridor design continues to advance allowing us to fully coordinate limits for the three separate projects, thereby reducing or totally eliminating “throw-away work” as we now know where and when IDOT will work in 2012. This close coordination has allowed us to reduce quantities and costs to the Village for this project.
As with every project that has unknown elements, contract quantities are closely reviewed during design, and pay Item adjustments are made in attempt to provide for unknowns by conservatively adding pay items and/or quantities into the contract to avoid costly extras. Now near completion of the project, we are able to estimate the project’s cost at completion with a good level of confidence as work has been completed that had unknowns connected to it, such as soil excavation where there was an unknown quantity of potentially contaminated soils.
The October 17, 2011, Committee Action included a detailed Change Order/Potential Change Order Log for the project. Upon inspection, you will see that the Project Management Team has been tracking the project financials closely, identifying change orders resulting from IDOT requirements, changes desired by the Village, changes requested by the contractor and potential change orders. Changes authorized thus far have not increased the project cost beyond the Board authorized funding as the Project Management Team is also tracking pay Items that have excess quantity or will not be used. A deductive change order is currently being prepared to reduce these items.
It is projected that at project completion, the Board authorized contract value of $10,513,202.74 will be exceeded, but will be below the Authorized funding as shown on the Engineer’s Opinion of Probable Construction Cost (Cost at Completion). As of September 8, 2011, when this summary report was prepared, the cost at completion was estimated at $10,999,002.97. This is a conservative value and includes all change orders that had or were expected to be presented through completion, and includes the deduction of excess quantities for work that we know will not be built.
Based upon the completion percentage of the project and the detailed line item review, Staff is recommending and requesting that the Paschen’s contract value be increased to the value shown on the Engineer’s Opinion of Probable Construction Cost at completion: $10,999,002.97. This value is $485,800.23 above the Bid value and $25,755.96 below the awarded not-to-exceed funding authorized for the project, despite accommodating $783,887.16 in change orders.
On October 17, 2011, this item was reviewed and approved by the Public Works and Engineering Committee and referred to the Board for approval.
INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED AS PART OF THE OCTOBER 17, 2011, PUBLIC WORKS AND ENGINEERING COMMITTEE PACKET.
Financial Impact
Funds required for this Project were approved in the Fiscal Year 2011 Capital Improvement Fund Budget in an amount of $13,079,682.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve increasing the F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates, LLC 143rd Street and LaGrange Road Improvement project contract value from the currently authorized value of $10,513,202.74 as provided in their bid of January 14, 2011, including Alternated 1, 3, 5 and 6, to the September 8, 2011, estimated Cost at Completion value of $10,999,002.97.