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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 03-19-2019 8-h - Adoption of a Prequalification Policy for Contractors 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 19, 2019 Action Agenda Item No. 8-h SUBJECT: Adoption of a Prequalification Policy for Contractors DEPARTMENT: County Manager's Office ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Attachment 1: Prequalification Policy Travis Myren, 919-245-2308 Attachment 2: Prequalification Assessment Tool PURPOSE: To approve a contractor prequalification policy as part of the bidding process for the Orange County Northern Campus development as required by North Carolina General Statutes. The prequalification policy may also be applied to future capital projects. BACKGROUND: In June 2018, the County contracted with Bordeaux Construction of Raleigh, NC to serve as its Construction Manager at Risk for the Northern Orange County Campus development. As the Construction Manager at Risk, Bordeaux Construction will solicit bids and hire all subcontractors to construct the project. Prior to the bidding process, State Statutes require the County to adopt a prequalification policy so that only firms that are qualified to perform the work are able to submit bids. General Statute 143-128 states, The construction manager at risk shall use the prequalification process determined by the public entity in accordance with G.S. 143-135.8, provided that public entity and the construction manager at risk shall jointly develop the assessment tool and criteria for that specific project, which must include the prequalification scoring values and minimum required score for prequalification on that project. The construction manager at risk shall award the contract to the lowest responsible, responsive bidder, taking into consideration quality, performance, the time specified in the bids for performance of the contract, the cost of construction oversight, time for completion, compliance with G.S. 143-128.2, and other factors deemed appropriate by the public entity and advertised as part of the bid solicitation. The proposed prequalification policy is attached as Attachment 1. Under this policy, a Prequalification Committee composed of two representatives from the Construction Manager at Risk and one representative from the County would review the prequalification applications from 2 contractors using an objective assessment tool. The assessment tool is attached as Attachment 2. Contractors that are prequalified are allowed to submit bids on the project. Contractors that the Committee has denied prequalification have the opportunity to appeal. The first appeal is to the Prequalification Committee, and the second is to a Prequalification Official. The policy designates the County's Chief Financial Officer as the Prequalification Official. This process will allow the Construction Manager to establish a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) from subcontractors. Once the guaranteed maximum price is in place, the Construction Manager at Risk must manage and control construction costs to not exceed the GMP. Any costs that exceed the GMP that are not change orders directed by the owner are the financial liability of the Construction Manager at Risk. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The prequalification process is included in the Construction Manager at Risk fee. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goal is applicable to this item: • GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their dependents. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the prequalification policy contained in Attachment 1. 3 Attachment 1 ORANGE COUNTY PREQUALIFICATION POLICY A. Governing Law (Session Law 2014-42) This policy is in effect for all prequalifications on Orange County work, including single prime project delivery and construction manager at risk first-tier subcontractors. G.S. 143-135.8(b)(2) requires the governmental entity to "adopt an objective prequalification policy applicable to all construction or repair work prior to the advertisement of the contract for which the governmental entity intends to prequalify bidders." B. Requirements for Prequalification Criteria Form and Assessment 1. Uniform, consistent, and transparent in its application to all bidders. 2. All bidders who meet the prequalification criteria to be prequalified are allowed to bid on the construction or repair work project. 3. Criteria must be rationally related to construction or repair work. 4. The bidder is not required to have been previously awarded a construction or repair project by the governmental entity. 5. Bidders are permitted to submit history or experience with projects of similar size, scope, or complexity 6. Assessment process of prequalification is stated in this policy. 7. A process for a denied bidder to protest is stated below in this policy. 8. A process for notifying a denied prequalified bidder is stated below in this policy. C. Review of Application 1. Prequalification Committee — The County and/or construction manager shall agree upon the members of the prequalification committee. The County Finance Officer shall be the Prequalification Official. The Prequalification Official shall not be on the prequalification committee. The prequalification committee will review prequalification applications submitted by the firms and will determine each firm's prequalification eligibility for the project. 2. Review of Application — The prequalification committee shall use the objective assessment process form as adopted by the Orange County Asset Management Services Department. The prequalification committee shall approve or deny the applications in accordance with the prequalification criteria and scoring system based upon the applicants' initial response to the County's solicitation for qualified bidders. With the possible protests and appeals on prequalification and the times associated with responses, the County and/or construction manager should have the advertisement for prequalification out to potential applicants approximately two (2) months prior to actual bid date. 3. Notice of Decision — All firms that submitted applications for prequalification shall be promptly notified of the prequalification committee's decision, including the reason for denial, via e-mail. Notice shall be provided prior to the opening of bids for the project and with sufficient time for the firm to appeal the denial of prequalification. 4. Informal Meeting - Upon denial, the applicant may request an informal meeting with the County's representative and/or construction manager to receive feedback and 4 suggestions for improvement. The County's representative and/or construction manager shall hold a feedback session for the applicants who do not appeal the decision within 2 weeks of the request. 5. Firms wishing to appeal the decision shall follow the appeals process described below. D. Appeals Procedure l. The firm may appeal the denial of Prequalification as noted below. a. Initial Protest — A firm denied prequalification may protest the prequalification committee's decision by filing a written appeal via hand-delivery or e-mail to the applicable prequalification committee within three (3) business days of emailed notice that the firm has been denied prequalification. The written appeal shall clearly articulate the reasons why the firm is contesting the denial (i.e., explains how the firm satisfied all required criteria for prequalification in the government's solicitation in their initial response) and attach all documents supporting the firm's position. The prequalification committee may contact the firm regarding the information provided prior to ruling on the protest. The Prequalification Committee should review the written protest within five (5) business days. If the prequalification committee is satisfied that the firm should be prequalified, the firm shall be notified that it is prequalified to bid on the project and allowed to participate in the bid process. If the prequalification committee upholds its denial, the firm shall be notified in writing via e-mail. b. Appeal — Within three (3) business days of the County's emailed notice of the Prequalification Committee's written protest decision, the denied prequalified firm may appeal the prequalification committee's decision, in writing, via hand- delivery or e-mail, to the Prequalification Official (see C.1 above). The Prequalification Official should review the appeal within five (5) business days. In the event the Prequalification Official is unable to review in a timely manner, he/she may designate a representative that is not a member of the prequalification committee to handle the appeal. C. Decision on Appeal — The decision of the Prequalification Official or Representative on the appeal shall be final, and the firm shall be promptly notified of the decision. d. General Rules for Protests and Appeals — Firms submitting prequalification applications shall be provided an e-mail address for the communication with the County and/or construction manager during the protest and appeal process. The firm shall provide at least two e-mail addresses for use by the County and/or construction manager in communicating with the firm. In the event the Prequalification Official or Representative is unable to render a decision on either the initial protest or the appeal prior to the bid date, the firm shall be allowed to submit a bid on the project subject to a final decision on the protest or appeal. If the firm's bid is opened prior to a final decision on the protest or appeal and the bid is not the lowest monetary bid for the project, the appeal shall be terminated and rendered moot. Bids received from firms who have been ruled disqualified to bid shall not be opened. A firm's failure to comply with any requirements of the protest and appeals procedures of this section shall result in the firm's protest or appeal being terminated and rendered moot. {M4VA5A91190CX} Page 2 of 2 5 Attachment 2 Prequalification Ratings Matrix for First-Tier Subcontractors under CM @ Risk Project Name: Orange County Northern Campus Bid Package No./Description: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Yes or N/A=1 E E E E E E E E point for z z z z z z z z acceptance and No=0 points for not `o `o `o `o `o `o `o `o accent—, u u u u u u u u Part A Section# Description Yes or No Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Part A-1.GENERAL COMPANY INFORMATION Yes or No Part A-2.BUSINESS TYPE Yes or No Part A-3.LICENSING INFORMATION Yes or No Part A-4.TYPE OF SCOPE OF WORK/AVERAGE SIZE/LARGEST PROJECT Yes or No Part A-5.SIZE OF COMPANY Yes or No Part A-6.CURRENT WORKLOAD Yes or No Part A-7.CURRENT WORKLOAD Yes or No Part A-S.LITIGATIONS AND CLAIMS Yes or No Part A-9.HUB OR DIVERSITY PLAN Part A-SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION Audited Financials Yes or No Bonding Company Letter Yes or No Current Insurance Ceni ica meeting OC-15 Article 34 Yes or No Letter from Insurance Company rtating EMR Yes Or No OSHA 3W Reports Yes or No Copy of HUB Certifcation,if claimed in Secton 2 Yes Or No Copy of Licenses for Specific work,if requ fired in S,dion 3 Yes or No Part A Acceptance=Subtotal 15 out of 15 points Part B Section# Description Yes or No Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Part B-1.INFORMATION Part B-2.UPDATED COMPANY INFORMATION 2a Current Backlog and Bond ing Ca p-ty Avail,ble Yes or No 21,Attach bonding letter from Surety,If over$300k Yes or No 2C List of Projects—king With CMAR in last 5 yea rs Yes or No Part B-3.PROJECT SPECIFICS 3a Assigned Superintendent resume and experience Yes Or No 3b Relevant project experience of assigned Superintendent Yes Or No 3C Assigned Project Manager resume and experience Yes or No 3d Relevant project experience of assigned Project Manager Yes Or No 3e Related Project Experience Yes or No 3f.1 Available Craftsman for Trade Prequalifying for Yes or No 3f.1 Self performance for Trade Prequalifying for Yes or No Part B Acceptance=Subtotal 10 out of 10 points TOTAL POINTS=25 points out of 25 points All scores of 25 points will be prequalified. note;if an item is not applicable("n/a'),then the CMAR shall make the line"n/a"for all subcontractors seeking prequalification for that bid package