October 25, 2005

REPORT IN BRIEF

Request is made that Council reject the only bid received in response to Invitation for Bids No. F0507-06 for the replacement of fire protection alarm and halon systems in various City buildings (Public Works Project No. PR-03/02-05).

BACKGROUND

The scope of work for this project consists of replacing the existing halon systems at Public Safety Headquarters and the City Hall Annex, replacing the main fire alarm system at the Public Safety Building and providing new satellite fire alarm panels at the Library, City Hall and City Hall Annex.

Rejection of this bid will not have an immediate effect on building safety.  The existing City systems are functional, but halon, as a suppression system, no longer meets state code.  As manufacturers discontinue the production of halon, refilling and recharging the existing system will become problematic.

DISCUSSION

Bid specifications were prepared by Public Works and Purchasing Staff.  The bid package was mailed directly to fire protection contractors in the Bay Area, distributed to Bay Area Builders Exchanges, and broadcast to other potential contractors through the DemandStar by Onvia procurement network.  

One bid was received and publicly opened on Wednesday, September 21, 2005.

The one bid received was much higher than the engineer’s estimate and the project budget.  Staff recommends rejection of the bid and redesigning and rebidding the project by separating and scaling down the scope of work through the reuse of functional components of the existing systems at the City Hall, City Hall Annex and the Library.

FISCAL IMPACT

It is anticipated that redesigning the project and modifying bid specifications could result in additional bids and pricing within the project budget.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council reject the only bid received in response to Invitation for Bids No. F0507-06 for the replacement of fire protection alarm and halon systems in various City buildings and direct staff to modify bid specifications and rebid this project at some future date.

Prepared by:

Elaine Wesely

Purchasing Officer

Reviewed by:

Mary J. Bradley

Director, Finance

Reviewed by:

Marvin Rose

Director, Public Works

Approved by:

Amy Chan

City Manager