Travis County Commissioners Court
February 1, 2005
Item 14
Why don't we try to pull up 14 to see if we can get it quickly. 14 consider and take appropriate on the request to authorize the Travis County purchasing agent to utilize alternative project delivery methods for certain project Texas local government code projects" (tex. Local gov't code ann chapter 271, subchapter h, section 271.111 - 271.121) to procure the following services in support of the construction of new jail facilities at the del valle correctional complex: a. Consulting services to assist in pre-design, needs assessment and determination of the "best value" project delivery method; and b. Design and construction services.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, cyd grimes county purchasing agent, along with facilities management staff and my staff. This is really a follow-up to your discussions a couple of weeks ago with -- with roger and the criminal justice, michael, regarding the construction at del valle of the -- of the added capacity that you all have approved and we are moving forward with. The -- the law requires us to come before you to get permission to move murder on this, on -- to move forward on the design build type of project. That's what we are here today to do is to get your authorization for us to issue an rfq to hire an consultant that will do the initial planning and needs assessments, review a lot of the work that's already been done by some of the consultants that we've had in the past, and this person that we will be hiring will be with us through the entirety of their project. This consultant will help us draft the request for qualifications that will -- that we will use when we go out and hire a design build firm and they will stay with us through construction until completion. So today what we are asking you to do is authorize us to issue an rfq to hire a consultant to represent us and work with us on the jail project and, also, authorize us, what we will be doing, this is going to be a long process, I will let roger talk a little bit about it. But this entire year will be spent in getting this consultant on board, doing the planning with the sheriff's department and outline of the other users and then towards the -- also getting an estimate that we can give to the court and p.b.o. On call so you can take that for your bond election and then next year will be coming back to you with the rfq that we have all developed with our consultant to actually hire the design build firm that will do the construction work. And the law says that we have to come before you before we issue those documents to get your approval that we move forward with the design build concept. We have you some design build authorities since we've had this authority now for two years. They have been small design build projects. This will be our first large design build project. There are a lot of advantages we think in using this method. One is that the statistics show that it's less costly on average, 10 -- six to 10% cheaper, that it's faster. The delivery method is faster and almost 33%, the statistics show. So we are hoping by this method, also -- also puts responsibility on the design team and the contractor, they work as a team together, so it should eliminate confusion on the plans and the specs, they will be working on it together, and the liability lays with them. We shouldn't have change orders from the contractor's side unless it's -- the only change orders that we should have, we won't -- hopefully through the planning process we will eliminate any need for owner change orders. So there's a lot of advantages to us going with this design method and that's, you know, that's why we are here today to get that authority to move forward.
>> I have a few questions.
>> uh-huh.
>> and I don't know who would like to maybe address the questions that I bring forth. But the added value I just heard some of the added value that you brought up as far as going along with -- with design build, things like that, I remember texdot came out with that s.h. 130 project, also a design build I believe. Of course some of the complaints that i've heard about design build is that the process was so fast until -- until the traditional hub and minority participation wasn't at the level that it should have been in. And that kind of raised a red flag with me, I don't know how true that is, but I'm just saying --
>> that's a concern, I understand.
>> a big concern. So the projects that Travis County, I heard you mention that the projects that Travis County has dealt with under design build, how did that impact hub, historically underutilized businesses and also minority participation, because right now we are trying to get to a situation, as far as I'm concerned, a situation where we can boost and make it mandatory for us to allow higher percentages for minorities and hub participation. It looks like, if we go this route, will we really be going in the opposite direction of ensuring that our hub and minority vendors out there that they are trying to encourage to participate in Travis County of -- bid process, all of these things, will they be harmed or hurt or injured in this type of situation even though we are looking at added value as far as fast tracking.
>> well, Commissioner, I will get statistics on those projects that we did to see -- but let me read to you what the law allows us to do. No longer will we be awarding just to the low bidder, which has been the traditional way that governments had v had to do business on construction for years. We still don't have the authority to do design build on road projects on the facilities. But this is what the law says. It says in determining to whom to award a contract, the governmental entity may consider the purchase price, the reputation of the vendor, and the of vendor's goods and services, the quality of his services, the extents to which his services -- the services met the governmental needs in the past, the vendor's past relationship and this one the impact on the ability of the governmental entity to comply with the rules relating to historically underutilized businesses. Then it goes on and lists two others. So that will -- I believe that that will give us the ability to look more stringently at their hub participation and that -- if they don't meet our goals which we have set, then they are not providing us the best value, they don't have to be recommended the award. I believe this method will give us more opportunities to award to hubs. In working with the consultant, we can -- we can specify, we can identify those trades that we know we have the h.u.b. Contractors that are available. And we can work to make sure that they understand these are -- this is our part of our program and this is very important to us. And we now have the authority under this to make a determine nation if -- determination if they are offering us the best value.
>> right.
>> we hope that it will help us.
>> right. Well, thanks for bringing that point out.
>> if we have dealt with it in the past, I don't know how many projects we've had under design build, as far as facilities are concerned, I don't know.
>> they are minimal.
>> they are minimal. We have done the job order contracting.
>> that's right.
>> which I believe one of our contractors is a hub firm.
>> right.
>> habitat.
>> but something of this magnitude, we are talking about a whole lot of money. This will be a biggy.
>>
>> my concern is that even though it has added value, it appears that it does, my concern is that it's still going to focus on the minority hub participation in there in this particular advent of which we are looking at, to ensure that some of these thing, the deficiencies that have plagued us will not plague us as we go forward in this particular concept. That's all I'm just laying it out on the table for you right up front so everybody will know exactly where I'm coming from on this. Maybe an advantage to the county. I'm just laying it on the table.
>> we hear you loud and clear, Commissioner Davis.
>> okie-doke.
>> we are going to work hard to make that happen.
>> what if we approve this item for you all to bring back to us what you consider to be the top two or three firms?
>> we will do that, judge. We will follow our normal procedure, especially since this is a high volume project. We will -- the plan is to have this -- this rfq issued on Monday. Then three to four weeks hopefully come back with the right firms and ask for your approval to start negotiating with the top-ranked firm and then come back to you with the actual contract award.
>> you are bringing us the top two or three. In priority order is fine with me. I just think this is big enough. Plus we get the political flack anyway. So we may as well act like we are involved in it from the beginning. [laughter] with that understanding, I move approval.
>> second, judge.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you all very much.
>> thank you very much, judge.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, February 2, 2005 9:40 AM