AgdaPkt 2013-05-20 Closed Cancelled and Special

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6.1.C. - Page 1 RE PO RT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the Cit Mana er May 20, 2013 SUBJECT Rejection of all Bids - Fair Oaks Elementary School Synthetic Turf Replacement Project RECOMMENDATION By motion, reject all bids and authorize staff to re-advertise the project for competitive and public bidding and return all bid bonds. BACKGROUND Fair Oaks Elementary School was the first playfield converted from a grass field to a synthetic turf field in 2004. The City provided funding to complete the conversion because City residents are allowed to use this playfield pursuant to a Joint Use of Facilities Agreement with the School District. The school uses the playfield during the school year while the City uses the field for after school programs and activities. However, the synthetic field has met its useful life of over eight years and needs replacement. ANALYSIS A solicitation for the project was publicly advertised on March 4, 2013. The bidding documents reserved to the City the right to reject all bids. During the open bidding process, questions arose from several potential bidders regarding their ability to substitute an equivalent manufacturer's product in lieu of the product specified in the base bid specifications. In order to promote an open and competitive bidding process, staff issued three separate Addenda to the bid documents attempting to address what type of alternative product(s) or specifications could be considered equivalent to the base bid product. While these Addenda made the bidding process more open and competitive, this series of Addenda may have made the process unclear and confusing to the contracting community. The bid documents were not as clear as they could have been relative to the turf specifications. Questions were still being answered the night before bids were received. Ultimately, five (5) bids were received at the bid opening on April 17, 2013. However, one of the bidders (the fourth lowest bidder) has now issued a protest claiming that the other bids should not be considered because their submitted products were not equivalent to the product specified in the base bid specifications.