HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7113 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7113
MIP r I AfO
U%vx To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Apri 1 29, 1986
Subject: COOKS LANE COST OVERRUN
The agreement between the City and the State Department of Highways and
Public Transportation regarding Cook's Lane Interchange was that the City
of Fort Worth would design the project to S.D.H.P.T. standards and
specifications, advertise the project and award the contract. The
S.D:H.P.T. would then provide the construction inspection and calculate the
payment amounts due the contractor. By letter dated February 10, 1986 the
S.D.H.P.T. advised the City that the estimated quantities on several pay
items appeared to be deficient. Rady and Associates, the City's consultant,
was asked to review the items as to correctness.
Because of personnel turnover at Rady & Associates there was a long time
period between completion of design and the start of construction which
was caused by delays in right-of-way acquisition, and therefore it is not
possible to determine the exact source of the calculation error. Rady does
agree, however, that the estimated quantities were incorrect. A meeting
with City, State and Rady and Associates indicates the following possible
causes of the error:
(1) Use of compacted "in place" quantities for crushed stone used on
City jobs rather than the "loose" quantities bid on state jobs.
This calculation can account for a 50 percent error in this item.
(2) Omission, due to oversight on the part of the consultant, of the
crushed stone required underneath the bridge approaches.
(3) Failure on the part of the consultant to adjust the contract
quantities to reflect a design change requested by the
S.D.H.P.T. during the design review process.
The Ci ty of Fort Worth has carefully reviewed the bids received for the
corrected quantities and determined the following:
(1) The unit bid prices for crushed stone received during the bidding
process were not out of line with those submitted on other state
work in the same time period.
(2) The bidders were not out of line with each other on those items
which had the lower quantities.
(3) The order of low bidders did not change as a result of the bids
being adjusted.
In other words, although a change order of this magnitude may be
embarrassing, the City is not out any additional funds over what would have
been bid had the true quantities been reflected.
Neither the City nor the S.D.H.P.T. reviews plans in sufficient detail to
detect this sort of calculation error.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS -
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.. 7113
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 29, 1986 A%
Subject: COOKS LANE COST OVERRLIN
The nature of the construction work going on at the time the quantity
errors were discovered was such that work could not be stopped without
subjecting the City to additional claims for contract delay.
The very long time period between preliminary design and the completion of
right-of-way acquisition resulted in personnel turnover in the S.D.H.P.T. ,
City, and consultant staff that probably contributed to the quantity errors
going undetected. Again, the available funds for the Cook's Lane project
(John T. White Boulevard to Brentwood Stair Road) are adequate and there
has been no additional cost to the City over what would have been bid
initially had correct quantities been used throughout the process.
uglas Harman
City Manager
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-ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS