Report to Successor Agency
Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE A STATUS UPDATE ON PROJECT 919 AND CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT TO EXTEND THE TIMELINE OF TCM GROUP INC., A HILL INTERNATIONAL COMPANY (SUCCESSOR AGENCY)
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I. SUMMARY
On April 18, 2017, the City Council authorized and appropriated additional funds to complete Project No. 919: Wilmington Avenue Interchange Modification at the I-405 Freeway. The City Council requested that staff and contractor meet and expedite the project. The City Council requested that the street be open to traffic in December, which we are on schedule for.
A fourth amendment to Hill’s current agreement is necessary to accommodate the remaining construction timeline and continue to provide construction management services through the entire construction phase of the project. The contractor will be completing minor items in January. No additional appropriation is required as part of this staff report.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. APPROVE the Fourth 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 $259,997.00.
2. AUTHORIZE the Chairman to execute the Fourth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company, following approval as to form by the Agency Counsel.
3. RECEIVE and FILE a 90-day project status update.
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III. ALTERNATIVES
1. DO NOT APPROVE the Fourth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Hill.
2. TAKE another action the Successor Agency Board deems appropriate and consistent with the requirements of the law.
IV. BACKGROUND
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 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 Item No. 7, a Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group Inc. to provide Construction Management Services for this project; for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $2,994,788.00.
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 Item No. 2, to extend 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.
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 Item No. 17, 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.
On September 6, 2016, the City Council approved Item No. 16, the Third Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Hill, to accommodate the extended construction timeline through December 31, 2017, for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $779,990.16.
At the time of the Third Amendment with Hill, the critical path method schedule estimated the construction to be completed around June 2017. However, since then, a few other issues have arisen.
Road widening in conjunction with the bridge widening over the Dominguez Channel will accommodate an additional dedicated right-turn lane from northbound Wilmington Avenue to eastbound 223rd Street. Due to this road widening, sidewalks that provided vertical clearance and protection to the substructures were removed, and resulted in the vault and pipelines being in conflict with the proposed roadway section. The conflict with the AT&T vault was discovered around November 2016; and months later, around February 2017, conflicts with a few existing pipelines owned by Shell Oil Company (Shell) and Tesoro were also discovered. It took several months to lower, or relocate, the vault and pipelines in order to provide proper vertical clearance to the surface of the roadway. The project construction team worked closely with AT&T, Tesoro, and Shell to address the conflicts. Over several months, a number of meetings took place related to field conditions, limitations and stipulations from said owner about the protection of their equipment. AT&T, Shell, and Tesoro eventually approved the design of a reinforced concrete slab over the vault and the pipelines. Soon after, a few additional weeks were consumed while the City’s contractor waited for Tesoro to complete the maintenance of the exposed pipelines, and also coordinate a shutdown of service for said pipelines. After four months of setbacks, the City’s contractor was finally able to complete paving of the eastside of Wilmington Avenue south of 223rd Street on June 7, 2017.
Another item that caused the project to go beyond the anticipated date of June 2017 was an unknown communication line on a Southern California Edison (SCE) pole, which prevented the removal of a wooden utility pole with powerlines over the freeway.
Around November 2016, SCE discovered a communication wire on their poles, but they could not identify the owner. SCE could not remove the subject pole until the unknown communication line was de-energized and removed. The owner of the communication line was identified by SCE in February 2017 as Wilcon Communications (Wilcon). Wilcon is one of many companies that SCE allows and authorizes to be on their poles through a Joint Powers Agreement. Even though it is SCE’s primary responsibility to coordinate the removal of all overhead wires on their poles, City staff were the ones who aggressively pursued Wilcon to respond and be engaged with the removal of their communication line. Nearly six months after the conflict was discovered, the pole was finally removed around May 2017.
Despite the unforeseen work that caused major challenges and delays to the project, and the recent conflicts with AT&T, Shell, Tesoro, and SCE, the construction is now scheduled to be completed by January 2018.
The widening of the bridge along the east side of Wilmington Avenue south of 223rd Street, and the widening of 223rd Street in the same area, is now complete. The completion of this area allows the contractor to move forward and advance the construction to Stage 4. It is estimated that Stages 4 and 5 will be completed in a few more months, barring any unforeseen conflicts.
The scope of work in Stage 4 includes improvements along the west side of Wilmington Avenue from 223rd Street to 220th Street. A portion of the bridge over the Dominguez Channel at the north west corner of Wilmington Avenue and 223rd Street will be expanded to align with the road widening along the west side of Wilmington Avenue.
The contractor started Stage 4 at the end of July. A portion of the bridge has been removed and the newly poured concrete deck is estimated to meet its strength by early September. All sidewalks, curb and gutter has been removed. The contractor has graded this area and will pour concrete soon after the proper compaction has been done. A portion of the road has also been removed and will be paved after the curb and gutter is placed.
Hill, the construction management firm, continues to play a vital role to ensure that construction progresses on schedule for completion by January 2018. Per the agreement, Hill is compensated on a fixed monthly rate. In recent months, due to numerous construction activities and extra work which involved night and weekend inspections, Hill provided services beyond the estimated hours of inspection, at no additional cost. Hill continues to immediately address conflicts that arise, and are very proactive in assessing upcoming work, to avoid further delays. Hill is cognizant of the project’s limited funds and has a clear understanding of the City Council’s / Successor Agency Board’s directives to complete the street improvements and open to traffic in December.
Staff recommends that the Successor Agency Board approve the Fourth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with Hill to accommodate the extended construction timeline through January 2018, for a negotiated fee not-to-exceed $259,997.00 (Exhibit No. 3). This recommended amount of additional compensation has been approved, and funding has been appropriated as part of the recent budget approved by the Agency Board for this project. No additional appropriation will be required as part of this staff report.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
This is a multi-year project for which funds are 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 funds from the aforementioned funding sources total $37,592,667.
The total project cost including design, construction, construction management, utility relocations, and the right-of-way acquisition cost is now estimated to be $37 million. Funds were appropriated from the Cooperative Agreement Bond Proceeds account to account no. 84-70-999-985-8020/0091901 in the amount of $5,008,345.00, in order to accommodate the staff report recommendation. No additional appropriation is required.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Location Map. (pg. 6)
2. Existing and future layout. (pg. 7)
3. Original Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company plus amendments 1-3. (pg. 6-60)
4. Fourth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with TCM Group, Inc., a Hill International Company. (pgs. 61-67)
Prepared by: Raymond Velasco, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer