The Town requires traffic improvements at the intersection of NW 67th Avenue and NW 167th Street. Currently, traffic turning left to enter the Palmetto Expressway backs up, blocking the through lanes and hindering traffic flow heading north on NW 67th Avenue. The NW 67th Avenue Widening Project consists of roadway widening to incorporate an additional through lane for the northbound movement at the south leg of the intersection of NW 67th Avenue and NW 167th Street, which will greatly alleviate traffic heading northbound. The project will also include modification to the existing median, removal of the entrance feature, traffic signage, crosswalk improvements, new traffic signal mast arms, and pavement and milling resurfacing.

The NW 67th Avenue Widening Project is also the first Town project to be funded through the new contribution-in-lieu of fee process the Town has engineered with Miami-Dade County (the “County”) and The Graham Companies, Inc. (“Graham”). Through a funding agreement with Graham, the Town has secured up to $489,933.90 for use to complete the project, which may be amended in the event the County approves a greater contribution-in-lieu of fee credit for Graham. In this agreement, the Town has agreed to procure and manage the project in place of Graham in exchange for funding up to the credit amount approved by the County.

The Town issued Request for Proposals (“RFP”) 2018-31 for NW 67th Avenue Widening Project on August 17, 2018. The RFP was posted to DemandStar, Public Purchase and posted in the Government Center Lobby. To qualify for award, prospective Proposers were required to:
1. Possess a current certified General Contractor license issued by the State of Florida or a Miami-Dade County Certificate of Competency as a General Engineering Contractor; and
2. Possess a minimum of five (5) years of experience, under its current business name, in the construction of horizontal roadway projects involving public right-of-way; and
3. Provide at least five (5) verifiable client references, from organizations other than the Town of Miami Lakes, demonstrating the successful completion of at least five (5) projects of similar size, scope, and complexity within the last five (5) years, and in which the bidder served as the primary contractor and self-performed at least thirty percent (30%) of the Work using its own employees; and
4. All the projects must have been performed for local government, County, and/or State agency.

On the date of the bid opening, September 17, 2018, we received two (2) Proposals from the following Proposers:
1. Southeastern Engineering Contractors, Inc. (“Southeastern”) - $628,197.79
2. V Engineering & Consulting, Corp. (“V Engineering”) - $722,500.00

Procurement performed a due diligence review of the proposals for responsiveness and found the Proposal submitted by V Engineering was non-responsive. V Engineering's proposal was deemed non-responsive because it did not provide requested information about the financial stability of the proposer, construction project staff experience, experience of the subcontractors, and failed to provide the required MS Excel bid form providing line-item pricing for labor and material quantities required for the project.
The remaining proposal from Southeastern was responsive and met all the minimum qualifications for this solicitation. Southeastern has primarily been in the construction business, serving government municipalities and corporate clients for over 34 years and provided the requisite three (3) verified references. Procurement did not find any issues that would indicate Southeastern was incapable of performing and completing this project.

An Evaluation Committee (“Committee”) was appointed, comprised of the following members:
1. Carlos Acosta, Public Works Director, Town of Miami Lakes
2. Carmen Olazabal, Chief of CIP and Special Services, Town of Miami Lakes
3. Michelle Gonzalez, Senior Transportation Manager/Chief Resiliency Officer, Town of Miami Lakes
4. Jose Santiago, Vice President, Marlin Engineering, Inc.

The Committee met on November 7, 2018 to discuss and evaluate the responsive proposal. After a brief discussion, the Committee moved and adopted a motion to request supplemental information from Southeastern and schedule another meeting to rank the proposal.

The Committee met again on November 28, 2018 to evaluate the supplemental information that was provided by Southeastern. At the end of the discussion, the Committee allocated points for the technical portion of the proposal and the price proposal of $628,197.79 was opened and read into the record. The Committee then held a discussion pertaining to the recommendation to present to the Town Manager. In this discussion, the Committee agreed that Southeastern was capable of completing the project, however, the price proposal was significantly over the funding amount available to the Town. The Committee ultimately moved to recommend the award of a contract to Southeastern, but only in the event that the contract price could be negotiated to a price that was reasonable in light of the funding agreement.

After the award recommendation, Town staff contacted Southeastern to negotiate the bid price down to a price closer to the amount of the funding agreement. Immediately, the Town was able to save $55,935.96 by eliminating patterned pavement from the scope of work. In addition to the savings, eliminating this item allowed the project to move forward in the permitting process with Miami-Dade County as it was also an on-going issue hindering the issuance of a permit because the County refuses to allow pattern pavement on County roads. Southeastern also agreed to minimize the amount of nighttime work under the contract, which saved an additional $18,197.79 from the bid price. Finally, the Town agreed to procure some of the more expensive bid items to take advantage of its tax-exempt status. Overall, the Town was able to save $80,929.20 from the original bid price for a total contract price of $547,268.59.

Between the negotiated contract price and the funding agreement, the Town needs to secure funding for $57,334.69. Ms. Michelle Gonzalez, the Town's Senior Transportation Manager, is currently in contact with Miami-Dade County's Public Works Department about increasing the approved contribution-in-lieu of fee credit for the Graham Companies, which in turn will result in an increased funding amount under the Town's funding agreement. Should the request be approved, then the Town will not require the use of its own funds. Otherwise, the Town will need to fund the $57,334.69 to complete the $547,268.59 project.

For the above stated reasons, it is recommended that the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to execute a contract with Southeastern for the NW 67th Avenue Widening Project, 2018-31, in an amount not to exceed $602,000.00.