The San Marino City Council unanimously voted on Wednesday evening at City Hall to award $288,685 to Transtech Engineers of Chino, Calif., for professional design services for the fiscal year 2019-20 street rehabilitation project, budgeted at $3.5 million.
The repaving of city streets is expected to take around 100 working days once work begins and the design is expected to be completed in December, according to City Engineer and Director of Parks and Public Works Michael Throne.
The $3.5 million appropriated for the city’s street rehabilitation program comes from the gasoline tax ($700,000), Measure R ($440,000) and Capital Projects Fund ($2,360,000), according to a city report.
The contract documents are expected to be ready to bid in early 2020 so the city is set up for a “more favorable bidding climate” at the end of winter.
Of two proposals the city received, Transtech was found to have a stronger understanding of the project scope, according to Throne. Although Transtech’s cost proposal was noted as the higher of the two received, the company had the “superior proposal including a solid performance record with the City on other projects.”
The $288,685 amount for design services consists of Transtech’s cost proposal of $65,985 for design and $222,700 for construction management and inspection. The amounts were noted as 1.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, of the total budget which was “significantly below the industry average of 30 to 40 percent for projects over $1,000,000, according to the city report.
As noted by the city attorney, there was no conflict of interest found in awarding the design or construction management/inspection to Transtech because Transtech did not prepare the 2018 pavement management plan, which was prepared by NCE.
