Nelson Hill Reservoir, located at 2435 Cordelia Road, receives water from the Waterman Water Treatment Plant, has a water capacity of 12 million gallons, and provides potable water to businesses and residents in the Cordelia and Green Valley area of Fairfield. Roughly one-third of the valves are inoperable along the essential transmission line supplied by the reservoir. The proposed Nelson Hill Reservoir Mixing and Valve Replacement Project (Project) includes removal and replacement of the following components: valve cluster, reservoir inlet/outlet valves, altitude valve, flow meter vault, transmission main isolation valve, blow off valves, air release valves, and structural improvements to the bypass vault. In addition to valve replacements, the proposed Project will improve operational efficiency through the incorporation of a mixing system in each reservoir basin which also improves water quality by increase water turnover rates.

Four (4) bids were received and opened on June 15, 2021. The bids range in price from $2,248,000 to $2,741,600. The engineer’s estimate was $1,467,000. The apparent low bidder was Trinet Construction, Inc. (Trinet) from San Francisco, California. Trinet requested permission to withdraw the bid on the basis of a clerical error made on the cost of construction crew laborers required to meet the project work sequence and constraints. Staff, in consultation with the City Attorney, reviewed the bid and withdrawal request. The request meets all of the following requirements for bidder’s proof of mistake under Public Contract Code Section 5103:

1. A mistake was made.

Trinet provided evidence that the mistake was made in filling out the bid form and was not an error in judgement or the result of carelessness in inspecting the site or misreading the plans or specifications.

2. [The bidder] gave the public entity written notice within five working days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays, after the opening of the bids of the mistake, specifying in the notice in detail how the mistake occurred.

Notice of the mistake was given to the City, in writing, within five working days after the bid opening.

3. The mistake made the bid materially different than he or she intended it to be.

The mistake in the cost results in a difference in the total bid amount of $207,687, which is over 9% of the total bid.

4. The mistake was made in filling out the bid and not due to error in judgment or to carelessness in inspecting the site of the work, or in reading the plans or specifications.

Trinet made a clerical error relating to the cost for six (6) construction laborers which was entered incorrectly, as Trinet failed to include overtime costs for the 24-hour shift during the water shutdown period.

Valentine Corporation (Valentine) submitted the next lowest bid in the amount of $2,697,369; approximately 85% over the engineer’s estimate. Of the three remaining bids, the percent difference is 1.63% between the bids, reflecting the competitive pricing and current bidding climate. Staff has analyzed the higher than anticipated pricings and determined it was a result of multiple unaccounted for factors due to the current market prices affected by Covid-19 pandemic. Factors include supply chain issues on materials, labor shortages, inflation, the peak of construction bidding season, and an addendum issued for the project specifying the project construction work sequence and time constraints in which the contractor must staff crews to meet the project schedule.

Staff has reviewed all bids for compliance with the bid requirements and recommends a relief of the bid for Trinet without forfeiture of bid security. Staff further recommends that the council award the contract to Valentine of San Rafael, California. Valentine is appropriately licensed by the Contractors State License Board to perform the work. This company has not previously performed work for the City of Fairfield. However, they have completed similar projects for Port of Oakland and Alameda County Water District.