The Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Miami Beach, Florida approve the City Manager’s recommendation pertaining to the bids received, pursuant to ITB 2019-257-KB, for Job Order Contracting Services - Various Trades.

On November 14, 2018, the Mayor and City Commission approved a recommendation by the Finance Committee recommendation to streamline construction related procurement by implementing a Job Order Contracting (JOC) program. The main purpose of the JOC program is to expedite the delivery of construction projects through pre-established contracts. Locally, the JOC construction delivery method is successfully being utilized by the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Jackson Health System.

JOC is a project delivery method utilized by many public sector organizations to expedite routine construction projects by establishing a pool of pre-qualified contractors that can quickly respond to an agency’s needs for construction services. JOC is most commonly used to address deferred maintenance backlog, complete renovation projects, and expedite projects that require a rapid response. A Job Order Contract is a competitively bid, fixed price, multi-year construction contract based on established or published unit prices via a unit price book usually developed by an independent third-party(the City utilizes the Gordian Group system as detailed below), often referred to as a construction task catalog (CTC), with a competitively bid multiplier applied to the unit prices. The City has contracted with the Gordian Group, the largest JOC program software provider in the United States, to develop the CTC and provide the supporting software system for the City’s JOC program. The Gordian Group, which owns RS Means, manages a research-based CTC which includes pricing adjusted for accuracy within each local area in which it is deployed.

According to the Job Order Contracting Association, an industry group that promotes best practices, education and credentialing in JOC programs to the construction industry, the benefits of JOC contracts includes:

• more projects completed on-time and on-budget through collaborative information sharing, detailed project scopes, and proven processes to speed project delivery;
• enhanced cost visibility through standardized construction task catalogs;
• enhanced contractor performance through long-term agency-contractor relationships as JOC contracts are multi-year based on contractor performance;
• reduced deferred maintenance backlog;
• fewer change orders as better communication improves project scope development and yields elimination of contractor-driven change orders;
• transparency as each project cost is developed via pre-determined unit prices yielding full transparency.

In order to select contractors for the JOC program in the areas of general construction, horizontal right-of-way (ROW), electrical construction, roofing, and landscaping, the administration developed Invitation to Bid (ITB) 2019-257-KB. The ITB requires each bidder to submit the multiplier that will be applied to the unit prices in the CTC. The multiplier includes the contractor’s overhead costs and profit. The ITB also considered licensure, experience and past performance.

ITB PROCESS

ITB No. 2019-257-KB for Job Order Contracting Services - Various Trades, was issued on May 14, 2019, with a bid opening date of June 19, 2019. The City received 34 bids in response to the ITB from the following 30 firms (some firms submitted bids for more than one trade) for a variety of trades, as indicated below. See Attachment A.

Staff has verified that all bidders met the licensure and technical requirements of the ITB. However, a number of issues pertaining to the bids received by Richport Construction Group, Stone Concept Miami, Inc., and Shoreline Foundation are noted below.

Richport Construction Group

A principal of the Richport Construction Group was an employee of the City until December 2018. Section 2.111(q) of the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission’s Ethics Code, commonly referred to as the two-year rule, prohibits former local government employees from lobbying their former County or municipal employer for two years following the termination of their employment. Further, the City Attorney’s Office has determined that the actions required to obtain a contract from the City, as part of the City’s solicitation process, are considered lobbying and are, therefore, violations of the two-year rule. As a result, the City may not accept a bid from Richport Construction Group and may not consider the firm for award and the bid must be rejected.

Stone Concept Miami, Inc.

Stone Concept Miami, Inc. was awarded a contract pursuant to ITB 2018-294-ZD, for window replacements at the Miami City Ballet. The Property Management Department, which manages this contract, has reported significant performance failures by Stone Concept Miami. On July 1, 2019, the City issued a notice-to-cure to Stone Concept Miami, Inc. for failure to perform work in accordance to contract documents pursuant to the Miami City Ballet Exterior Doors and Windows Replacement project. Subsequently, on September 6, 2019 the contract with Stone Concept Miami was terminated.  As a result, the administration recommends that no bids from Stone Concept Miami, Inc. be considered.

Shoreline Foundation, Inc.

In October 2018, on a project at the Port of Miami, Shoreline was convicted of invoicing the US Coast Guard for work required but not completed on the project. Shoreline Foundation, Inc. has claimed that the work was to be performed by one of its subcontractor and that it was unaware that the subcontractor had not completed the work. However, Shoreline Foundation, Inc. has also acknowledged that it is ultimately responsible for the actions of its subcontractors and has accepted responsibility for this matter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in investigating the issues with the Port of Miami project did fine Shoreline but did not recommend debarment. The State of Florida, Department of Management Services, has also investigated the issue and has taken no action in the matter. However, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has entered into an agreement with Shoreline Foundation, Inc. in which the firm voluntarily has agreed to not bid on any project or work as a subcontractor or materials supplier on any FDOT project through May 31, 2020. Following this moratorium, Shoreline will be eligible to bid on FDOT projects.

I have reviewed the bids received pursuant to the ITB, as well staff’s due diligence and analysis. I agree that it is important to proceed expeditiously with the JOC program to help expedite a number of projects, including G.O. Bond projects, while adhering to cost controls and incentivizing contractor performance. In determining an award recommendation, I note that the City code requires that, in addition to price, the following factors must be considered:

(1)  The ability, capacity and skill of the bidder to perform the contract.

(2)  Whether the bidder can perform the contract within the time specified, without delay or interference.

(3)  The character, integrity, reputation, judgment, experience and efficiency of the bidder.

(4)  The quality of performance of previous contracts.

(5)  The previous and existing compliance by the bidder with laws and ordinances relating to the contract.

With regard to the bid received from the Richport Construction Group, I concur with the interpretation of the City Attorney’s Office regarding the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission Code two-year rule restriction. Therefore, I recommend that the bid received from Richport Construction Group be rejected.

With regard to the matter of Stone Concepts Miami, Inc.’s performance on a current City contract, it is my position that City contractors that have not satisfactorily performed on their contract obligations should not be considered for further awards. Therefore, I recommend that the bid received from Stone Concepts Miami be rejected.

With regard to the matter of Shoreline Foundation moratorium agreement with FDOT, Shoreline has notified the City Attorney’s Office that it is in agreement that the City will award no work until such time as it has been determined to be in good standing with FDOT. While I acknowledge the seriousness of the issues at the Port of Miami project, I also understand that the Department of Homeland Security has investigated this matter and recommended that Shoreline not be debarred. Further, the State of Florida has also investigated the matter and has not recommended any further action. Finally, FDOT has agreed to allow Shoreline to participate in its procurement projects following the conclusion of the voluntary agreement. In considering this matter, I must also consider the City’s current and future needs regarding seawalls and the need to have sufficient contractors to expeditiously complete this work. Shoreline is one of three contractors that has submitted a bid in response to the ITB and, it is important to note, has submitted the lowest cost multiplier for this category of work.

Finally, while it is important to have sufficient contractors to complete City projects, having too many contractors tends to reduce the amount of work any given contractor is awarded and, as a result, may reduce a contractors ability to deploy sufficient resources for the awarded projects since the majority of JOC projects tend to be smaller in size. While the City is fortunate to have received so many responses to the ITB, staff has analyzed the pending projects list for the next several years and has estimated how many contractors would be required to complete the work for each category. If the number of projects increase in the future, there is always the possibility of adding additional contractors to the JOC program.

Therefore, based on the aforementioned, I recommend that the Mayor and City Commission approve the award of the following contractors pursuant to ITB 2019-257-KB for job order contracting services – various trades. In assigning work, the Administration will endeavor to utilize the contractors with the lowest multipliers (see Attachment A), unless the contractor is not in compliance with any contract or performance requirement or it is otherwise in the City's best interest as determined by the City Manager. The Administration will provide a monthly report to the City Commission of JOC projects awarded during the preceding month.

Electrical

South Florida Electric Consultant

AGC Electric

Edd Helms Electric

Solares Electrical

General Construction

Lee Construction Group, Inc.

G.E.C. Associates

Harbour Construction

Team Contracting, Inc.

Danz Contracting

Shiff Construction

Horizontal (Right-of-Way)

Harbour Construction

Envirowaste    

Maggolc, Inc.    

Metro Express, Inc.     

Danz Contracting        

Ric-Man Construction

David Mancini & Sons

Seawalls

Shoreline Foundation (only eligible for work once the voluntary "no bid" period with FDOT has ended)

Danz Construction

Kearns Construction Company

Roofing

Advanced Roofing