HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9669 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9669
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 16, 2014
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*a SUBJECT: PROPOSED PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS TO MINIMIZE BID
rrn REJECTIONS
The City of Fort Worth routinely solicits bids for goods, services and the construction of its
infrastructure. From time to time Staff recommends to the City Council that all bids received
for goods, services and construction solicitations be rejected. In recent months some
members of the City Council have expressed concern regarding this aspect of the City's
current public bidding process.
Background
A Focus Group was recently established to 1) review the bid award and rejection trends of the
City, 2) identify the leading root causes of bid rejections and 3) to recommend process
improvements to the City's bidding processes that will minimize the need for bid rejections in
the future. The Focus Group included representatives from the Finance-Purchasing, Housing
& Economic Development-MWBE Office, Law, PACS, Planning & Development-PMO,
Transportation & Public Works and the Water departments.
The Focus Group determined that the City solicited 532 bids for goods, services and
construction between October 1, 2012 and August 15th of this year. During this time period
517 of the bids (97 percent of the solicitations) were successfully awarded and 15 of the bids
(3 percent) were rejected.
The Focus Group identified four root causes for the eleven bid rejections related to
infrastructure:
• Schedule coordination with other projects - (1)
• Bidder Pre-qualifications (Sole Bidder) - (1)
• Low bid received greater than budget / estimate - (7)
• BDE Ordinance Compliance Issues - Failure to submit documents (All Bidders) - (1);
Failure to request a project goal (Staff) — (1)
In addition, the Focus Group identified three root causes for the four bid rejections related to
Goods and Services:
• Low bid received greater than budget / estimate - (2)
• Specification Non-compliance - All bids received did not comply with or meet the
requirements of the published specification documents - (1)
• Incorrect specifications issued by City — (Staff error resulting in the City receiving bids
for items that do not meet departmental needs) - (1)
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9669
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 16, 2014
h�T�i7�
r%4 Page 2 of 3
�i
�i7 Y
*a SUBJECT: PROPOSED PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS TO MINIMIZE BID
r0rn REJECTIONS
Recommended Bid Process Improvements
The Focus Group has developed the following recommendations to minimize the number of
future bid rejections necessary when procuring goods, services and construction contracts
within the City:
Schedule Coordination w/ Other Planned Projects
• Consider the impact of future bond projects on currently scheduled projects during the
long range Planning process.
Bidder Pre-qualifications
• Require bidder to submit a pre-qualification certification statement external to the bid
package.
• Verify bidder pre-qualifications in the Purchasing Office prior to bid opening.
• Postpone and extend bid openings if there are no prequalified bidders submitting bids.
Low Bid Received > Budget / Estimate
• Insist on better estimates from project consultants based upon current market prices.
• Conduct constructability and value engineering reviews as part of the estimating
process.
• Make more use of qualifications based project awards such as Best Value or
Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR).
• Encourage more participation and get more bids.
• Consider the number of bid openings occurring on a given day.
BDE Ordinance Non-Compliance
• Failure to Submit Required Documentation
o Ordinance amendment penalizing non-responsive bidders
• BDE Project Goals Not Requested
o Use Project Management Check-List available online to all project delivery staff;
Specification Non-Compliance
• Encourage more participation and get more bids.
Incorrect Specifications Issued
• Utilize standard specifications and details available to staff and vendors electronically
on Buzzsaw.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9669
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 16, 2014
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r%4 Page 3 of 3
�i
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*a SUBJECT: PROPOSED PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS TO MINIMIZE BID
r0K?CL REJECTIONS
Next Steps
Staff briefed the Infrastructure and Transportation Committee on the proposed process
improvements to the City's bidding process on September 9t" and is currently moving forward
with the implementation of the improvements outlined above. Should you have any questions
concerning the proposed process improvements, please feel free to contact Doug Rademaker in
the Planning & Development Department at (817) 392-6157.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS