HomeMy WebLinkAboutNorth County Campus InfoDate:
To:
From:
Re:
September 28, 2010
Board of County Commissioners
Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator
North County Campus
At your October 4, 2010 Work Session, staff will ask for Board direction regarding the
North County Campus project.
As background, the development of a North County Campus located in Redmond has
been a Board goal since FY 2008-09 and is included in this year's CIP. The County
issued a solicitation of interest for this project and nineteen proposals were submitted.
Proposals included a range of different project types: existing building, land only, and
land with a proposal to build a facility. Staff developed a short list of five projects based
on the location and description of the site, existing or proposed structure, parking
facilities, and cost. With Board approval, staff is prepared to move forward with this
project.
If the Board approves the project, the County can either develop a project that only
houses County operations or includes other partner agencies. The funding for the North
County Campus would come from General County Projects Fund (Fund 142) and the
issuance of bonds.
The debt service on the bonds would be paid for by County departments located in the
facility and in the case of a project that includes partner agencies, third party leases. At
the upcoming work session, staff will review the financials for the project under both
scenarios (County only and County plus partner agencies).
Staff will ask the Board for direction in the following areas:
1. Would the Board like staff to move forward on the North County campus project?
2. If "yes," should the project include partner agencies or be limited to County
operations?
3. If the answer to question 2 is "partner agencies," staff recommends sending a
request for proposal (RFP) to the short listed projects (note, one of the properties
included in the short list has been sold) and using an alternative method of
contracting. Attached are draft "findings" for exemption to traditional contracting
for your review.
If the Board supports moving forward with the RFP and the alternative method of
contracting, staff will begin the public notification process for the alternative method
of contracting. The alternative method of contracting will allow the County to
streamline the project likely resulting in cost savings. Staff recommends moving
forward with a North County campus, including partner agencies, and using the
alternative method of contracting.
EXHIBIT A - DRAFT
FINDINGS FOR PERMITTING ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF CONTRACTING FOR
DESCHUTES COUNTY REDMOND FACILITY CONSTRUCTION
The Board of County Commissioners of Deschutes County, Oregon, sitting as the local contract
review board ("Board"), finds as follows:
Authority to exempt contract from competitive bidding. ORS 279C.335, OAR 137-049-0600
to 137-049-690 and the Deschutes County Code authorize the Board, acting as the local contract
review board, to exempt certain contracts from traditional bidding upon approval of appropriate
justification related to public benefits and market conditions. Public contracts may be exempted
from the competitive bidding requirements if (a) it is unlikely the exemption will encourage
favoritism in the awarding of public contracts or substantially diminish competition for public
improvement contracts and (b) the awarding of public contracts pursuant to the exemption will
likely result in substantial cost savings to the public contracting agency.
The Property & Facilities Department of Deschutes County desires to construct and manage the
Deschutes County Redmond Facility Construction ("Project") through a design -build selection
process.
Project Description
Deschutes County provides a variety of governmental services in the Redmond area in numerous
locations. Deschutes County intends to consolidate all county services as well as other
governmental partner agency services currently operating in the north county area into a single
facility to provide a one-stop service center. Approximately 15,000 square feet of office space is
needed for county operations, and another 25,000 is needed for the State of Oregon and other
potential partner agencies.
In October 2009, Deschutes County issued a solicitation of interest for siting of the facility, with
the following parameters: located in Redmond, commercially zoned property, minimum 35,000
square feet, and 100 parking spaces. The solicitation of interest asked responders to provide the
following information:
• Location and description of the site.
• Description of any structures currently located on the site, include the size, shape, and
type of construction. Provide floor plans, photos, and any other suitable descriptive
materials.
• Describe parking facilities and provide a schematic, if available.
• Provide information regarding zoning and compatibility of the surrounding neighborhood
with a governmental office/service center.
• Identify a date when the property will be available.
Alternative Contract Findings — North County Facility
Nineteen submittals were received. Submittals were evaluated by a review panel based on the
following criteria: location, facility, space, and cost. The review panel consisted of the County
Administrator, Deputy County Administrator, and Property and Facilities Director. After
consideration and prioritization, a final shortlist of five sites was chosen as possibilities for the
new facility. The submittals and short list were reviewed with the Board of Commissioners in
executive session.
Deschutes County will request a full turnkey design -build proposal from the submitters of these
five sites. The project's scope of work will consist of constructing new facility or remodeling an
existing facility to accommodate space for Deschutes County, the State of Oregon, and possibly
additional partner agencies. The County will purchase the site and the requested facility and
improvements. The required amount of space is a minimum of 50,000 square feet. Site work
may include construction of new roadways and driveways, sidewalks, at least 100 parking
spaces, and possible fencing and utility work.
This project is under consideration for an alternative method of contracting due to the potential
time and cost savings to be realized, the fact that the response is limited to the shortlisted sites,
and an interest in reviewing different types of projects (construction of a new building or
remodel of an existing building).
JUSTIFICATION
No Favoritism or Diminished Competition
A preliminary round of open solicitation was previously conducted to identify potential sites for
the facility. A request for proposals was formally advertised in local publications and resulted in
19 solicitations. The proposals included only land, land and the construction of a new facility,
and the remodel of an existing building. The 19 proposals were narrowed down to a list of top
five proposals based on the following criteria: location, facility, space, and cost. The top five
proposals will receive a request for proposal and a competitive process will be used to pick the
contractor which will undertake the project using a design build process. The award of the final
project will be based upon identified selection criteria consistent with OAR 137-049-0640 and
there will be an opportunity to protest the award.
Time Constraints
The opportunity to build a facility to house at least two governmental entities is contingent on
the requirement to have the space available and ready to occupy January 2012. In addition, the
County would like to move its operations out of the Unger Building as soon as possible to
comply with the Settlement Agreement with the Department of Justice (DJ 204-61-158). The
Unger Building does not meet ADA Standards and the County desires to comply with the DOJ
settlement by promptly moving to a new ADA compliant facility.
The design -build contracting process is a modern construction delivery method used by both
public and private organizations. It lays the responsibility of providing both design and
construction services on a single contractor at a set price.
Alternative Contract Findings — North County Facility
The design -build process allows "fast track" construction to start while detailing structures,
interiors, and systems at the same time as awarding site work, foundations, and long -lead items.
Timing the market for the various aspects of construction can result in cost savings and
ultimately keeps the project team on schedule. However, in order to assure that such an
aggressive schedule does not compromise technical details, the selected contractor will need to
demonstrate superior skill in responding to technical complexity and unique project
characteristics, analyze and recommend solutions and coordinate multiple disciplines. The
design -build contractor will also need to partner with design professionals with demonstrated
ability to produce reliable sequential designs. The fast-track benefits are not available under the
low bid process. The design -build selection process combines the two disciplines in a single
RFP. This effectively reduces the time that would be spent soliciting, selecting and contracting
separately with a design team followed by a construction team after completion of construction
documents.
Partner agencies' leases are expiring at the end of 2011, so it is important that new space is
available and ready to occupy by January 2012. County services are currently offered in
facilities that are inadequate, which limits the quality and quantity of service available to the
public.
Cost Savings
Expert construction input during the design process is expected to contribute to significant cost
savings by factoring in value engineering, best practices, and most efficient methods during the
design phase and by preventing frequent change orders during construction. In addition, the
process generally minimizes the chance of disputes between the architect/engineer firm and the
contractor during a project which can often contribute to increased cost.
The current market conditions are such that favorable prices are available. Examples of recent
(within the last several years) County capital projects where final project cost came in
significantly lower than the engineer's estimate include the following:
Cell 5 Construction/Area A Closure Project:
Estimate: $6,910,359.36
Actual: $5,387,920.48
22% less than the engineer's estimate
Equipment Maintenance Building:
Estimate: $640,188.00
Actual: $561,815.00
12% less than the engineer's estimate
Beaver Road District LID (July 2008):
Estimate: $729,744
Actual: $548,048
25% less than engineer's estimate
Altemative Contract Findings — North County Facility
Deschutes Market Overcrossing (December 2008):
Estimate: $5,214,305
Actual: $2,949,785
43% less than engineer's estimate
Redmond area overlays (March 2009):
Estimate: $2,443,556
Actual: $1,878,217
23% less than engineer's estimate
Masten Road full -depth reclamation (June 2009):
Estimate: $1,345,529
Actual: $1,169,690
13% less than engineer's estimate
While the County has no assurance that favorable market conditions will prevail through 2011,
recent experience with capital projects indicate that moving forward promptly reduces the risk
that market pricing will turn around and increase.
SUMMARY
The Deschutes County Redmond Facility Construction is best accomplished through an
alternative means of construction contracting that utilizes an approach of selection that is based
on qualifications and experience rather than lowest bid. The selection of the design -build
contractor through an RFP process will not diminish competition or show favoritism because
submission because the solicitation of interest process was open to any contractor and resulted in
19 submissions. A review process narrowed the 19 proposals to a shortlist of contractors who
will receive the RFP. Based on the experience of recent County capital projects, it is likely that
this contracting method will result in cost savings to the County. Therefore, the Deschutes
County Property & Facilities Department believes this exemption request is justified and in
accordance with Oregon Law and is in the best interest of the County.
Submitted by:
Susan Ross, Deschutes County Property & Facilities Director
Altemative Contract Findings — North County Facility