Gardena rejects bids for new pool-maintenance contract, will rebid after tightening specs

The Gardena City Council on Sept. 9 voted to reject all bids for swimming-pool maintenance services for the Gardena Community Aquatic & Senior Center and instructed staff to rebid the work with modified requirements. Staff reported that a mandatory pre-bid meeting drew four organizations but that only two proposals were submitted. One proposal arrived four minutes after the published deadline and was therefore deemed nonresponsive. The remaining timely proposal was significantly higher in cost than staff expected, prompting the recommendation to reject and rebid. Council and staff said one specification in the original request for proposals — a requirement that the vendor vacuum the entire pool daily for 90 days — likely drove up the cost and would be revisited. Staff told the council the lower timely bid was roughly in the range staff had anticipated (about $2,000–3,000 per month), while the higher bid that arrived timely but was expensive suggested a need to revise prescriptive specifications to attract more competitive offers. The council approved the staff recommendation 5-0 (Mayor Serta, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Councilmembers Tanaka, Francis and Love) to reject the bids and instruct staff to rebid with clarified or modified scope and requirements. Staff said the county health department will monitor pool operations when the facility opens and that rebidding is intended to secure a responsible contractor at a reasonable market price. Discussion vs. decision: council discussion identified specification and pricing issues (discussion); the council made a formal decision to reject all bids and rebid (decision). Staff will return with revised specifications and a new procurement schedule.