Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER REJECTION OF PROPOSALS FOR EXTERNAL PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS PROJECT FOR WIFI ACCESS IN 12 PARKS AND 2 CITY BUSINESS FACILITIES (CITY COUNCIL)
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I. SUMMARY
On June 29, 2022, the Purchasing Division released RFP No. 22-015 for the City of Carson External Public WIFI project. The overall goal of this project is to ensure internet access is available at all City facilities (12 parks, City Hall, & Community Center) to support the City Council’s vision of providing free access to the internet (via WIFI) for all Carson residents.
Three (3) proposals were received but the proposal amounts were inaccurate due to irregularities in the bidding documents which resulted in at least one bidder submitting a bid that did not incorporate bonds which were required. More specifically, the RFP required bonds but the PlanetBids system also indicated bonds were not required for the project thereby creating an internal conflict with City’s bid documents. City staff requests that City Council reject all proposals received and authorize staff to re-advertise in an effort to receive accurate bid amounts.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. REJECT all proposals received in response to RFP No. 22-015; and
2. AUTHORIZE staff to re-advertise in an effort to receive accurate bid amounts from all bidders.
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III. ALTERNATIVES
1. DO NOT reject the proposals;
2. TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate, consistent with the requirements of applicable law.
IV. BACKGROUND
On June 29, 2022, the Purchasing Division released RFP No. 22-015 for the City of Carson External Public WIFI project to provide members of the public no cost internet access at the City’s 12 parks (playgrounds, sports fields, park areas, etc.) and business centers (Community Center and City Hall).
External internet access is to be made available in the following City parks & facilities:
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City Hall |
701 E. Carson Street, Carson, CA. 90745 |
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Community Center |
801 E. Carson Street, Carson, CA. 90745 |
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Veterans Sports Park |
22400 Moneta Ave., CA. 90745 |
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Carson Park |
21411 S. Orrick Ave., CA. 90745 |
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Foisia Park |
23410 Catskill Ave., CA. 90745 |
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Dominguez Aquatic Center |
21330 Santa Fe Ave., CA. 90810 |
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Hemingway Aquatic Pool |
16605 S. San Pedro St., CA. 90746 |
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Hemingway Park |
700 E. Gardena Blvd., CA. 90746 |
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Stevenson Gym Park |
905 E. Franke St., CA. 90746 |
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Carriage Crest Park |
23800 S. Figueroa St., CA. 90745 |
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Del Amo Park |
703 E. Del Amo Blvd., CA. 90746 |
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Dolphin Park |
21205 S. Water St., CA. 90745 |
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Anderson Park |
19101 Wilmington Ave., CA. 90746 |
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John Calas Park |
1000 E. 220th St., CA. 90745 |
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Mills Park |
1340 E. Diamondale Dr., CA. 90745 |
The City of Carson utilizes PlanetBids for the advertising of projects and accepting bids from interested vendors. PlanetBids is a web-based system that provides a platform for advertising projects and is well-known throughout the industry.
Advertising a project into PlanetBids involves uploading the RFP, RFQ, etc. into the PlanetBids portal. In addition to uploading the bid documents to advertise a project, PlanetBids requires staff to manually update certain tabs or fields as a way to quickly view certain pertinent information which in theory, should be consistent with the uploaded bid documents. Inconsistencies between the bid documents and the tabs can result in vendors bidding on different criteria because both are visible to the bidders, although a reasonable assessment should lead a bidder to conclude that the bid documents control and that at minimum, bidder should ask staff for clarification which is normally addressed through an addendum. For RFP No. 22-015, the bidders proceeded to form their bids without raising any questions to the City regarding the bond discrepancies, where the RFP required bonds but the PlanetBids tab indicated bonds were not required.
Staff was advised by the City Attorney’s Office that pursuant to the Public Contract Code under the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act, a public agency may reject any bids presented and has the option to readvertise the project, provided that the public agency furnishes a written notice to an apparent low bidder. In addition, per the Carson Municipal Code, Chapter 6, Section 2612(d), “Bid Acceptance or Rejection,” the awarding authority may reject any and all bids presented and may resolicit for bids in its discretion. On July 11, 2022, staff sent a letter to all the bidders thereby providing the required notification.
Therefore, staff requests that the City Council reject all the bids received for RFP No. 22-015 and instruct staff to readvertise the project in an effort to receive accurate bids.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
None, rejecting bids does not have a direct fiscal impact to the City.
VI. EXHIBITS
None.
Prepared by: Kevin Kennedy, Information Technology Manager