Report to City Council and Successor Agency
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE THIRD AMENDMENT TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH TCM GROUP, INC., A HILL INTERNATIONAL COMPANY, FOR PROJECT NO. 919 [FEDERAL NO. HPLUL-5403(017)]: WILMINGTON AVENUE INTERCHANGE MODIFICATION AT THE I-405 FREEWAY (CITY COUNCIL AND SUCCESSOR AGENCY)
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I. SUMMARY
The Carson Successor Agency and the City Council are undertaking Project No. 919: Wilmington Avenue Interchange Modification at the I-405 Freeway (Exhibit No. 1). The project includes the construction of a new northbound on-ramp, widening Wilmington Avenue from 223rd Street to 220th Street, modifying the existing southbound on-ramp, and the construction of a right-turn lane from Wilmington Avenue northbound to 223rd Street eastbound by widening the existing bridge over the Dominguez Channel (Exhibit No. 2).
The duration of the construction will exceed its estimated timeline by twelve additional months. An amendment to the TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company’s (Hill) current agreement is necessary to accommodate the extended construction timeline to continue to provide construction management services through the entire construction phase of the project.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. APPROVE the Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company, to reflect an extension of the time of service for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $779,990.16.
2. AUTHORIZE the Chairman to execute the Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company, following approval as to form by the Agency Counsel.
3. ADOPT Resolution No. 16-19-CSA, A resolution of the Carson Successor Agency board amending the fiscal year 2016-17 budget in the Successor Agency Bond Fund, to increase the Successor Agency budget by $230,000
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III. ALTERNATIVES
1. DO NOT APPROVE the Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement.
2. TAKE another action the Successor Agency Board deems appropriate consistent with the requirements of the law.
IV. BACKGROUND
The Wilmington Avenue Interchange Modification at the I-405 Freeway project was listed in the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY 2005/06. Wilmington Avenue essentially runs north/south and the I-405 freeway runs on a due east/west alignment at this location. Wilmington Avenue is an undercrossing and generally provides two lanes in each direction in the project vicinity. The southerly quadrant of the interchange is a standard diamond configuration. The northerly quadrant has a loop on-ramp and an off-ramp, both located in the northeast quadrant. A railroad track crosses 223rd Street and Wilmington Avenue south of the interchange, runs parallel to the I-405 freeway, and limits the opportunities for modifications in the south quadrants. The entire project is composed of five construction stages, as follows:
|
Construction Stage |
Description |
|
Stage 1 |
Construction of portion of southbound on-ramp; construction of new northbound on-ramp, retaining walls, sound walls, and bridge over the Dominguez Channel |
|
Stage 2 |
Removal of existing raised medians and construction of temporary pavement |
|
Stage 3 |
Widening east side of Wilmington Avenue from 223rd Street to existing northbound on-ramp; construction of retaining walls, portion of southbound on-ramp, maintenance pull-outs, guard rails, northbound auxiliary lane and shoulder; and bridge widening at southeast corner of 223rd Street and Wilmington Avenue |
|
Stage 4 |
Widening west side of Wilmington Avenue from 220th Street to 223rd Street |
|
Stage 5 |
Construct central portion of Wilmington Avenue and portion of 223rd Street and restore raised medians |
On February 17, 2009, the Carson Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved a Professional Services Agreement with Hill to provide Construction Management Services for this project; for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $2,994,788.00 (Exhibit No. 3).
Due to the extended time needed to acquire the right-of-way and obtaining Caltrans’ authorization to advertise the project for construction bids, commencement of Hill’s work schedule was delayed. On February 19, 2013, the City Council / Successor Agency Board approved a change to the dates of construction management services through December 31, 2015 and also, accepted the name modification from TCM Group, Inc., to TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company (Exhibit No. 4).
Due to several challenges and issues of the project, the actual duration of the construction exceeded its original estimated time. On August 4, 2015, the City Council approved the Second Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Hill, to accommodate the extended construction timeline through September 30, 2016, for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $779,990.16 (Exhibit No. 5).
As previously mentioned, the construction has faced several issues, most of which have been addressed around the time that the City Council approved Hill’s Second Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement. Months prior to the City Council’s approval, there were several discussions with Southern California Edison (SCE) and Caltrans, regarding the undergrounding of approximately 1,000 feet of overhead utility lines. Caltrans eventually approved the exception to place the underground infrastructure (duct bank) within Caltrans Right-of-Way. Based on preliminary discussions with SCE, staff, Hill, and the contractor (construction project team), it was estimated that only the undergrounding was to be completed by December 2015. Soon after Caltrans’ approval, City staff authorized SCE to finalize the underground electrical plans, based on a layout that the construction project team determined to have the least amount of substructure interference. After issuance of the final underground electrical plans by SCE, they ordered the construction project team to field verify (pothole) any potential interfering pipelines and equipment along the proposed location of the underground infrastructure. The potholing discovered a few locations that would interfere with the proposed infrastructure, and the electrical plans had to be revised by SCE. Between the potholing and SCE’s design revision, it took nearly six months until the contractor started the construction of the duct bank. The duct bank was just recently completed and the construction project team is waiting for SCE to mobilize and start the process for the underground of the overhead utility lines. SCE had previously informed the construction project team that it would take approximately eight weeks after the construction of the duct bank for SCE to finish the electrical field work and remove the existing wooden poles.
The temporary relocations of overhead power lines by SCE, commonly referred to by SCE as the “Shoo-Fly” work, had a much later start date than originally anticipated. The Shoo-Fly work is at a different location from the duct bank. It is near the southeast corner of 223rd Street and Wilmington Avenue. It would provide vertical clearance to safely execute the structural pile driving operation as part of the bridge widening at said location. The structural pile driving operation could not be started until the Shoo-Fly work was completed by SCE. The contractor’s structural pile driving operation was held back by approximately six months due to SCE’s completion delay of the Shoo-Fly work.
Most of the items in Stage 3 have been completed with the exception of the street widening along the east side of Wilmington Avenue, due to the interfering wooden poles. After the removal of the wooden poles, the contractor will be able to complete Stage 3, and progress to Stage 4 and Stage 5 of construction. The construction project team estimates that the remaining construction will be completed by September 2017, contingent on the severity of unexpected issues discovered during the remaining stages of construction.
On August 16, 2016, Hill submitted a request for an extension of their construction management service through the end of construction for a monthly rate of $70,031.06. Staff negotiated with Hill to reduce the monthly rate by $5,031.88, which would result in the same monthly rate that is currently arranged with Hill, namely, $64,999.18 (Exhibit No. 6). Staff is requesting the City Council to approve the Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Hill for the negotiated fee specified above (Exhibit No. 7).
V. FISCAL IMPACT
This is a multi-year project for which funds have been, and will be, budgeted each fiscal year in the Carson Successor Agency bond fund account; the state-funded Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) - 2007 Call for Projects; the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) federal funds; and the Federal Interstate Maintenance Discretionary funds. The total of funds from the aforementioned funding sources is $26,503,926.00.
The total project cost including design, construction, construction management, utility relocations and the right-of-way acquisition cost is now estimated to be $27 million. In addition to this amendment, there are other potential expenses that may sum to approximately $5 million, which will be supplemented through the Carson Successor Agency (CSA) Bond Fund account. The project’s total expense is therefore estimated to be $32 million. The estimated June 30, 2017 balance of the CSA Bond Fund is $2,707,179, which does not take into account any items that may be approved at tonight’s meeting using these funds. Funds should be appropriated from the Carson Successor Agency Bond Fund account to account no. 82-70-793-985-8020/0091901 in the amount of $230,000.00, in order to accommodate the staff report recommendation.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Location Map. (pg. 5)
2. Existing and future layout. (pg. 6)
3. Minutes, February 17, 2009, Item No. 7. (pg. 7)
4. Minutes, February 19, 2013, Item No. 2. (pg. 8)
5. Minutes, August 4, 2015, Item No. 17. (pg. 9)
6. Letter from Hill International Company, dated June 30, 2016. (pgs. 10-11)
7. Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company. (pgs. 12-18).
8. Resolution No. 16-19-CSA (pgs 19-20)
Prepared by: Raymond Velasco, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer