The Construction Authority Board for the Foothills Gold Line in California voted unanimously recently to award SSH Joint Venture with the construction manager contract for the Pomona to Claremont A Line Extension.
SSH Joint Venture is made up of Skanska USA Civil West California District Inc.; Stacy and Witbeck, Inc., and Herzog Contracting Corp. The construction manager contract is the second of two major contracts for the extension using the Construction Manager at Risk delivery method adopted by the board last year. The first – for design/engineering services – was awarded to Parsons Transportation Group, Inc., in January.
The initial award of $6.3 million will be for preconstruction activities. Officials said the construction manager contract was a competitive procurement process that received bids from four well-qualified teams. SSH, the board said, ranked highest overall following reviews of written proposals, in-person interviews and evaluation of costs. Teams were rated on management approach; experience, personnel and performance; interview performance’ approach to working in a complex right-of-way corridor; and approach to light rail systems. Because the full cost of constructing the project will not be determined until after the project design is about 85 percent full, the procurement process used a formula to compare the teams on their preconstruction phase cost proposals and overhead figures.
SSH’s initial contract work involves supporting the design/engineering effort. During the preconstruction phase, SSH will be responsible for providing constructability reviews, value engineering, third-party coordination and cost estimating – all of which will inform the design efforts underway by Parsons. After the project design reaches 85 percent, SSH will have the possibility of building the project if it successfully negotiates a construction services contract.