ANNA MARIA – The $3.33 million contract to build the decking and walkway for the new Anna Maria City Pier is a done deal.
On Thursday, Nov. 29, City Commissioners unanimously authorized Mayor Dan Murphy to execute the construction contract with Tampa-based Infrastructure & Industrial Contractors Southeast Inc. (i+icon).
The contract gives i+icon 270 days to complete the pier project by Aug. 26, 2019. It allows the city to penalize the firm $975 per day for any delays beyond that date but gives the commission the discretion to extend the construction timeline due to a storm, prolonged loss of power or some other unforeseen occurrence.
Murphy said i+icon indicated the first pier pilings will be driven in January.
The contract states the new pier will be approximately 730 feet long and 12 feet wide, with a 111-foot by 88-foot T-end section to accommodate a restaurant, bait shop and restrooms. The scope of work does not include the restaurant, bait shop and restrooms spaces that will be addressed in a separate request for proposals (RFP).
The commission-approved contract is $332,837 lower than the $3.66 million bid i+icon submitted in October as one of five firms responding to the city’s revised RFP. Those bids ranged from $4.78 million to $3.45 million, and the commission then authorized Murphy to discuss contract terms with i+icon as the highest-ranked bidder.
I+icon Operations Manager Paul Johnson and Project Manager Greg Thornton attended last week’s meeting, as did Jay Saxena from Ayres Associates, the city’s contracted pier engineering firm.
“This document marks a major milestone for the city. A lot of people have worked very hard and long to get to this point,” Murphy said when presenting the revised bid and contract for commission approval.
Cost savings
Murphy said the city could save $180,000 by using wooden support bents for the pier decking instead of the concrete bents originally planned.
Commissioner Brian Seymour asked Saxena if wood bents would reduce the new pier’s anticipated 75-year service life. Saxena said the first 63 bents from shore would be wood. The remaining walkway and T-end bents will be concrete and provide additional support where it’s most needed. The commission supported this change.
The commission also supported Murphy’s suggestion to spend $8,863 to purchase concrete pilings that are 14-inches in diameter and already cast to the correct length, rather than spending an additional $30,000 to splice together some of the 12-inch concrete pilings the city recently purchased directly to avoid paying sales tax and to ensure availability.
Murphy said Saxena and i+icon located the longer, larger pilings in the same storage yard where the previously purchased are being stored, and the city will receive a credit for 12-inch pilings returned. Murphy and Saxena noted the 14-inch pilings would support the T-end that is more vulnerable to high winds and waves.
Murphy told the commission i+icon recommended spending an additional $50,000 for IPE wood product pier decking instead of the Kebony wood product decking the commission majority approved in March. Murphy said the IPE product has a longer history of use than the newer Kebony decking. Commissioner Carol Carter noted that Seymour favored the IPE decking in March.
The revised total bid and cost savings document discussed last week lists an additional $181,700 in savings for pilings. Murphy explained later that this is for the pilings already purchased.
“There’s more savings to be had here,” he told the commission regarding the city’s continued ability to purchase construction materials directly to avoid the sales tax.
The final contracted price is approximately $800,000 lower than the original $4.13 bid i+icon submitted in August as one of two firms responding to the original RFP.
Carter commended Murphy, Saxena and i+icon for also reducing the original projected completion date of December 2019.
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